|
Yeeeehah!... it's the ole Texass Experiential... |
|
|
|
el Jéfe... Lost in Austin AGAIN! |
|
Starring Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top! |
|
Austin, Texas - site of the best Music Fest in the US, or perhaps just the best music town in America? Either way, the SXSW music fest is one helluvan exciting place to be in March, when the whole town becomes a gathering of partying folks, there to explore new and old music, drink their asses drunk, and have FUN! The streets are blocked off, at least 6th street is, the main hub of activity, where a profundity of clubs and bars are located. There are close to a couple hundred different watering joints and live music venues within walking distance, and the music is CRANKING! (Unlike New York, where gestapo Guiliani pays cops to give tickets to clubs whose music levels are monitored). I'm telling you, Austin is the place to be for music lovers of all shapes, sizes, ethnicities, tastes and beyond...and the barbecues!!...but let's talk about the SXSW 2000 Music Experiential, el Jéfe's 3rd year in a row... |
|
NOTE: this year's SXSW started off early, as a few bands i work with, namely Submachine, Inspecter 7, and The Booked were all playing Emo's three nights before SXSW started, along with Lower Class Brats. It was an incredible night of punk rock and Oi!, and the 3 Radical bands were all in the middle of a cross-country tour, and they were all tight, musically and friendly-like. Lots of slam dancing and drinking by the bands and the crowd. The Booked have this friend who is a madman, and a slut magnet to boot. This hot little hottie was following him around all night, yet he just wanted to slam! not her, tho. i don't think she was wearing panties! woo-hoo ! After the show, all drove down to San Antonio (Wacky's Deli, a great great venue for punk rock, death metal etc.), and then down to Corpus Christi for a gig at The Warehouse (which is just that), where The Booked played their final gig of the tour. Everyone in all the bands stayed at the drummer's mom's house, and she made sloppy joes for all. It rained torrentially, and Inspecter 7's van got stuck in the yard, ripping the shit out of half the lawn. Drummer Danny still bears the boot mark of his dad on his ass, since he told him to stay off the grass. The next door neighbor's pickup truck got stuck pulling the van, and then another neighbor ending up pulling the van and the pickup out of the swampiness with his tiny John Deere tractor. What a sight! Anyway, onward and upward, back to Austin for SXSW!! |
|
|
|
Go, Jeff Submachine, Go! |
| SXSW Wed March 15 8PM Emo's I Am The World Trade Center That's the name of the band, and they might as well be a building standing there from the excitement that emanates... what more can i say...booooring? why is this crap playing at Emo's, the epitome of RAWK and ROLL. where did all these people come from? is Emo's going emo? what the fuck...? hopefully this is not an omen of shit to come. I am the World Lame Center... Emo's is by far (my opinion) the greatest music venue in creation. It consists of Emo's and Emo's Jr, 2 different club spaces/bars separated by an open, outside area, replete with benches and gravel, where folks can flit from one club/space to another. In Emo's, out Jr's. The main Emo's is semi-open, with a huge tree smack in the middle of the club! When it rains, however, it pours in Emo's, and there's nothing more pathetic than seeing the bartender standing by himself because everyone is standing under cover yards away. Emo Emo Emo Emo. |
Boring ol' World Trade Center |
| 9PM Ritz Lounge - Zeke Well, it's not Zeke from Texass, but a coupla chicks from Uppsala Sweden, and they're kinda cute, buy, boy, are they boorrrrrrinnnnnnggg. Lots of Swedes hanging out. "yah, yoov cahm to zee zeke, yoo lika zeke, what you mean, not zat zeek?" The Ritz Lounge is kinda like a movie theatre, with many tiers of seats overlooking a small stage area, and a small standing area to watch the band. Very interesting set-up. do bands ever rock the house? i dunno. Went outside to find the fast food wrap place, and the joint is gone!! whaaaatt? my favorite late night edibles, gone? damn, this is not looking good, Jefe!! |
|
|
THURS. - MARCH 16th 9PM Park Ave - APULANTA (Finland)
Hey, I liked these Finnish Fuckers! They kinda rocked, with well crafted songs, and a pretty cool singer. Park Ave is another great place to see bands, smack on a corner of 6th St. and Red River. It's got a wide stage and a decent size dance floor, with a raised level going around the floor. A really long bar, and a way cool bartendress with a heart of gold |
|
Here's a couple Apulanta links, direct from Finlandia |
|
Thurs - 12 Midnight - The Atomic Cafe THE BEVIS FROND
http://www.woronzow.co.uk/bevis.html http://imusic.artistdirect.com/showcase/modern/bevisfrond.html http://users.bart.nl/~cvdlely/bfrond.htm |
|
Friday - March 17 - Red Eyed Fly 10PM - HONKY
Jeff Pinkus, Austin God. Why is Jeff Pinkus so popular in Austin? could it be he was a Butthole Surfer at one time? Could it be he helps out other Texas musicians? Could it be he turned his stint in the Buttholes into something promising and exciting? Whatever the case may be, i wasn't too fond of his band, nothing interesting. he should be playing bass for the Buttholes. now he's bald and skinny.
11PM - Speedealer Speedealer kick serious asshole. the tightest band on the planet. two guitar players spread it out and chop em up. I can't say enough about the 'Dealer, but you can check out their websites, especially the testicle.com site below. They are heads and shoulders and hips and feet above 99% of the bands out there. When they're fast they're faster than anyone; when they crank in on down on the slow tip, they're heaviness personified with murderous riffing in the lower registers. This show was no exception, and I was happy to see a big crowd taking in the Dealer, especially when the Supersuckers were playing next door at Stubb's. A bunch of folks were singing along to songs like "Double Clutchin' Finger Fuckin'," "Pussy" and "Turkeyneck". The 'Dealer played a bunch of songs off their new cd "Here Comes Death" and there were some A&R folks there checkin' em out! (Note: they were signed shortly thereafter by Michael Alago from Palm Pictures, the guy who signed Metallica to Elektra oh so many moons ago!) Go Speedealer Go!
http://www.testicle.com/reo.htm http://www.speedealerrocks.com The Red Eyed Fly is another cool venue, half indoors, half outdoors. The band area slopes upwards, with craggy rocks and small trees outside, and a nice little bar up top, with tables around. Then there's an inside area, with a little stage, a bar and lots of room to move around. Righteous!
12 Mid: Mercury Ent at Jazz Lolita No. 18/Original Love
Yet another Japan nite? holy clap! Well, I got there late and missed Lolita No 18. After talking to these cute Japanese chicks all week, especially the singer with a voice like a 2 year old. However, me and Rick from Submachine busted a move backstage and talked to the girls, and told them we loved their show. Figured it was better to lie and make 'em feel good, than say we missed 'em. Funny thing talking to people who speak little or no english. when you tell a joke or make a play on words, you have to explain yourself. by the time you're done explaining, joke's over. no funny. Hung around for Original Ruv, and was kinda bored. not much happening there.
The Mercury Ent. Space is another huge upstairs venue, with a big-ass stage and a monstrous floor space to walk around, see the band. I got lost amongst all the Japaneasy-going folks flitting about, talking about Rorita No. 18. Damn! I got a probrem talkin to Japchicks. |
|
|
|
Meat Puppet up next |
|
Sat March 18 - Waterloo Park
MEAT PUPPETS
The Puppets played outdoors at the tremendous Waterloo Park, which is basically an outdoor event place, with a ton of vendors, and shitloads of folks getting shitfaced. The day before Patti Smith played, and I missed it, as I was headed for food. I did hear it from a mile away tho. The band played a buncha stuff from a new album that I was unfamiliar with, and there was all this shit about how Kurt Kirkwood was the only original member of the Meat Pups, his brother was all fucked up somewhere, and the great Derrick Bostrom was no longer a Puppet of Meat. I was by myself cruising through the park, trying not to drink or eat the crap from the zeppole stands, watching the MeatPups from afar. They played one memorable song, a version of "Waltzing Matilda" that floated through my head all day. Why do the Meat Puppets play that song, dammit! Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda..la dee dee dum dee dee do. Shit! I did catch the Meat Puppets later, see below... |
|
10PM Emo's Jr - Men of Porn How could I not see a band called Men of Porn? A great guitar player kind of had me transfixed for awhile, and they were heavy heavy porn heavy. I said hello to Frank Kozik, as it was his label (Man's Ruin)'s showcase, and he was very nonchalant, cold-like cool. Whatever. The Men of Porn were definitely friendlier-like. Either way, I love Emo's!!
The next time I heard about Billy G, was through Radical Eric, who relayed a story to me. The band Submachine had played Emo's the night before SXSW began, and their drummer Greg was drunk as ever when he met the Gibster. After saying hello to Billy G., Greg went over to a couple of young teenagers, and grabbed them by the shoulders, and slung them over to Billy, saying: "this is Billy Fucking Gibbons, the greatest guitar player alive, blah blah blah". A few minutes later, Greg came upon Jello Biafra, hanging at the same party. "Holy Shit, Jello Fucking Biafra! Greg drooled, and proceeded to meet and greet Jello, pulling him over to where Billy Gibbons was, introducing the two of them. "Billy Fucking Gibbons, meet Jello Fucking Biafra" The rest of the night, Greg was going on about introducing those two fucking guys. |
|
11PM Babes - Disengage (another Billy Gibbons sighting) The next time I saw Billy Gibbons was at the Indecision show at Babes on 6th St. I was kind of unimpressed by the band, but very impressed that the bearded one was making an appearance to see this emo-hardcore band. I snaked my way past a dozen people crowding around Billy, because when he makes an appearance, he doesn't do so alone. Everyone loves the man! He was very cordial, and said he came to check out the band. That is so rad! I didn't want to get in his face or keep him from seeing the band, so i split. I was not indecisive about not liking Indecision... been there, heard that. |
|
|
| Another coup of the end night party was seeing the Supersuckers live, and once again, I was right up close, on stage right. More people seemed to be into the band, including the Nashville Pussy's; I said hello to Blaine the guitarist (I did some work for The Pleasure Fuckers, who toured with N. Pussy a few years back, so we knew one another). Then I saw a funny sight. The crew from 100% Percent.com, who sell bongs and papers and other getting high paraphernalia, formed a little train with the Pussy crew, and headed off for happier trails. Off to get High as Hell, no doubt. I hung out for quite a bit with the collegemusic.com guys, who host my Johnny Chiba World Punk Aggressive Alternative Webshow (http://www.testicle.com/chiba.htm), and got to the point where i could barely walk. what a great night! Did I talk about myself enough!! That's 'cause I'm cool! Hopefully I'll be back for SXSW 2001. Keep you posted!! |
Zee next Billy siting happened at the end
night party for SXSW... with the Meat Puppets. I did a little public relations work
for the Meat Puppets over 15 years earlier, back when their 2nd record came out,
and got them a live review in the NY Times (opening for Suicidal Tendencies). Anyway,
seeing the Pups at the party was awesome, because people are really there to drink
and mingle and you know, party, and i was able to walk right up to the front of the
stage, and check out good old Kurt Kirkwood on the geetar aerobics. I was wearing
my trusty black stetson, so after the show, I barged my way backstage like I owned
the joint, and Kurt looked at me and said "Gottesfeld!! I haven't seen you in
like 10 years!" we talked about shit (I didn't mention his brother Chris, who
was supposely withering away on drugs somewhere) and before i knew it, up steps Billy
Gibbons to say hello to Kurt. So there I am, between the two guitarists, shooting
the shit. Up close, in the light of the backstage area, i could see the lines on
Billy G's face, hidden behind that mass of facial hair and cheap sunglasses. Of course,
I brought up the story of Submachine's Greg meeting him and Jello Fucking Biafra,
and ZZ man remembered Greg well. How could you forget a drunk encounter like that?
I gave Billy ZZ a testicle.com flyer and sped off, feeling a piece of greatness rubbing
off of my shoes.
|
Back to TESTicle PRESSure homepage Onward to SXSW Home page |