This Week in the Mercury
SXSW
Thursday, March 22, 2012
SXSW Our Final Word on SXSW
Posted by Ned Lannamann on Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 5:19 PM
Just a final wrap-up post on last week's SXSW festival, where Andrew R Tonry and myself spent four addled days taking in music, sun, and just about as much sensory overload as we could handle.
Tonry's SXSW Diaries went up over the past few days, and definitely don't overlook them—he got some great photos and video as well as a very entertaining travelogue that's about as precise a depiction of the onslaught that is SXSW as I have ever read. It's really great. (I make a small cameo as the mysterious "Music Editor.")
And I did some posts as well—they originally went up without photos, but I've gone back and updated them. No one's gonna mistake me for Ansel Adams, but some of the rambling might be a bit easier to take with some images.
Tonry's stuff (read it, it is excellent):
Days One & Two
Day Three
Day Four
Mine:
Days One & Two
Day Three
Day Four
And that's it. You won't hear another peep about SXSW outta us until next March, promise. Now, I still have some sleep to catch up on...
Out of Town / SXSW SXSW Diaries - Part 3
Posted by Andrew R Tonry on Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 3:12 AM
She is stunning. Leaned against the wall outside the hotel. Jeans, jean jacket and designer Chuck Taylors. No heels. Flats.
Fuck.
Long brown hair under a baseball cap. No makeup but eyeliner. Green eyes. Say something. Might as well. We're just sitting here waiting for the shuttle.
Shirley is from Belfast and sounds like it. She works for a label called Small Town America. She's been here a week and leaves tomorrow at the crack of dawn. Headed in to town to fulfill one last commitment.
We talk about music and about Northern Ireland. I want to take Shirley to the Mean Jeans and get fucking twisted on magic. "Let's Pogo Before You Go Go." But I know better than to ask. The timing just ain't right.
In the middle of 6th we say a goodbye. Poof. She's gone. An apparition. An idea? A real person? I fill in the blanks and imagine a perfect woman.
Get going though. Wasn't to be. Go to church.
FULL TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHS AFTER THE JUMP - The Lumineers, Mean Jeans, Jimmy Cliff & More
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Out of Town / SXSW SXSW Diaries - Part 2
Posted by Andrew R Tonry on Wed, Mar 21, 2012 at 3:39 AM
Friday morning the Music Editor gets up bright and early.
I stay in bed. Sleep all day. Feel terrible like my blood's been drained. Brain sitting on the floor, deflated, and a spoon-size chunk missing. A cauldron of empty bottles and old newspapers, towels, swim trunks and a homemade pipe.
The only thing that gets me back on my feet is thought of the Mean Jeans. Masters of the Party. Bill and Ted. Crank me up. Get me twisted and ready to at least mimic the motions of a living, breathing human being.
They're playing at Spider House, well away from The Shit. I catch a cab. The driver is unpleasant bore. No insight for someone visiting Austin but passionate and energetic when it comes to talking about the weather.
Otherwise he's concerned with trying to run up my faire by making big loops and taking shitty routes. Problem is he's got GPS and every time he goes the wrong way a lady's voice tells us so.
We pull up to Spider House and I offer the fucking moron half the fare. Reluctantly he accepts.
FULL TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHS AFTER THE JUMP
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Out of Town / SXSW SXSW Diaries - Part 1
Posted by Andrew R Tonry on Tue, Mar 20, 2012 at 5:12 AM
I step into the balmy Texas air just after midnight. For a dollar a bus takes me downtown and drops directly into the center of The Shit.
Everywhere people are shouting and kissing and laughing and sighing. Frat boys and hipsters rumble past in waves, drinking hard, smoking joints and cigarettes. Punk kids and old hippies, runaway teens and frat boys, drug dealers, bums, thugs and horse-riding cops.
Assault from every direction. Senses peak. Drugs, women, music, food. Commerce. All amongst the earth-shaking, amplified rumble that permeates 6th Street. The roar is constant, like ten carnivals and two thousand bands and five orgies all blaring at once.
I weave on through, west, underneath the highway and well down 7th Street to meet the Music Editor, who has keys to the hotel.
Wandering down 7th I am reminded of Alberta and Mississippi. Broke down lots repurposed by artists. Food cart pods. Boutiques, bistros and glints of new money. A brightly colored mural adorns a brick wall. Of the many scenes, one pictures a man sitting down at a café, drinking coffee.
A big graffiti arrow points at the man. Referring to the neighborhood, the spray paint reads: "the only brown person left around here."
The Music Editor was at a Portland showcase and as soon as I got there I wanted to leave. I didn't to Texas to visit Portlandia. On the way back down 6th Street I mention to the Music Editor I want some pot. Keep your eyes out, I say.
FULL TEXT, VIDEO, & PHOTOGRAPHS AFTER THE JUMP
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Sunday, March 18, 2012
SXSW SXSW Day Four
Posted by Ned Lannamann on Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 3:09 PM
[UPDATE: Now with pictures!]
By the time the final day of SXSW rolls around, it's necessary to downshift into a slightly lower gear. Feet are at their sorest, ears are at their tiredest, the brain is at its least functional. I spent a couple wasted hours yesterday morning getting my bearings, eventually upping the total taco count to 15—a number that would hold until the end of the weekend. (Turns out you can tire of tacos. Shocking, I know.) Then I walked over the river to check out the Folk Alliance showcase, taking place just on the south shore of Austin, a welcome distance from the gibberish of downtown. With a bit of Texas heat pushing its way through a cloudy sky, Threadgill's backyard was a fine place to grab a seat and a Shiner.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
SXSW SXSW Day Three
Posted by Ned Lannamann on Sat, Mar 17, 2012 at 10:58 AM
[UPDATE: Now with photos!]
Don't forget to check up-to-the-minute updates over on the End Hits Twitter! Also, scroll through past tweets to see thoughts that I'm far too embarrassed to rehash here.
Day two of SXSW got off to a slow start, due to a terrible internet connection which kept me in front of the computer through the early afternoon. (It's only very slightly better today.) Three tacos ensued (total count: 10) and a bit of aimless wandering around downtown before settling on Dan Deacon's camp-counselor-on-crack set at the Mohawk. The mid-afternoon set was actually a lot of fun, as Deacon and cohorts led the crowd through organized activities like the dance tunnel and an interpretative dance that involved a lot of swaying arms.
I trucked over to the Google/Youtube party on the roof of a nearby parking garage, with the endgame of catching the Shins' later set; I figured it would be good to catch them down here as their only current Portland show is in Bend. I was also given the heads up that it might be good to get there well ahead of time. Turned out not to be an issue, I waltzed straight up and found myself in the middle of a laid-back Jimmy Cliff set. Playing an acoustic guitar and running through an astonishing number of very familiar hits, Cliff was solidly entertaining as he varied from sunny love songs to fiery political numbers. I was very glad to have accidentally seen him.
Friday, March 16, 2012
SXSW SXSW Days One and Two
Posted by Ned Lannamann on Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 12:03 PM
UPDATE: Now with pictures!
They say everything's bigger in Texas, which is certainly true, but everything's hotter, too. The first thing you notice when you step out of the airport is that the air smells like barbecue and sweat. Austin in March is about as good as weather can get—high 70s, light clouds here and there, the occasional breeze—but for a visiting Northerner, everything's at just a little higher temperature, and a little more humid than one's used to. The only thing to do is to dial down one's heart rate, cease worrying about sweating through one's shirt, and grab a cold Lone Star. South by Southwest makes this very easy.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
SXSW Gone South
Posted by Ned Lannamann on Wed, Mar 14, 2012 at 8:00 AM
End Hits has gone down to Texas for the annual SXSW music festival/taco-eatin' challenge. Things'll be quiet here today and tomorrow, but be sure to keep an eye on End Hits' Twitter feed (@endhits) and check back here starting Friday for slapdash, drunken coverage of all the bands we see and all the tacos we eat.
Oh, let's face it. We're just gonna blog about tacos.
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