ever since i started listening to air america ive been thinking: maybe howard stern should broadcast his show here. think about it - the situation benefits the station and the dj. if AA is looking to open up the minds of people [and bolster its current liberal community], putting howard on here would obviously attract a much larger audience. and vice versa for howard.

OK, thats about as far as ive gotten on this one.

phillyfuture.org is a somewhat comprehensive site of philly bloggers, but i say comprehensive because for music they listed origivation before plain parade. okay, so im biased.

bewitchedby is a cute little site documenting fashion in philly and beyond. check it. its pink. anything and everything thats good is pink.

chu hui breaks down what’s hot and what’s not for the coming seasons.

despite what travel magazines think overweight philadelphians with poor taste in clothes are very, very chic. forget about springtime in milan and paris — passyunk avenue is the new fashion runway!

its the last day of sxsw, and im feeling a little sad about having to head back east.

1:00 - 9:30PM - Tillery Street Theater
Porchlight Pop Fest [sponsored by noisepop]
after some fumbling about downtown, i discover that the tillery street theater is located in east austin, which is a predominantly mexican section of town or as my cab driver would put it, “where all the illegal immigrants live”. you wouldnt know the area’s economically depressed because it has rolling fields of grass, wide open spaces and everyone owns a pretty little ranch.

i get to the theater just in time to catch the pretty please, which is carrie from 16 deluxe’s band. its loud, fuzzy, fun girly punk.

up next are the winter pageant, which features paul newman, formerly of the band, uh, paul newman. their music is comprised of simple melodies layered over one another to create something akin to a louder version of ida.

kaito were the main reason i wanted to check this event out, as i have never seen the band. seems like everytime they play philly, i miss them because im busy or too broke. they ripped and roared through their set like veruca salt in the chocolate factory. blissfully snotty and charming. so so so good.

austin group bedbug played after them, but i missed most of their set due to some phone calls. from what i remember they were loud and fun indiepop.

volcano, im still excited!!! played an energetic, super-hyper indie pop set that included a slide show. yes, there were drawings of unicorns, because indie rockers apparently like them. i dont get that.

subset features a member of silver scooter, an austin band i really liked back in the day. this band reminds me a lot of them, but the connection goes beyond sharing the same drummer: solid song structures, nice melodies, etc. ill have to check out more of their stuff.

palaxy tracks were the hardest rocking band on the show, but this was a good thing. fans of the band idaho, take note.

fivehead is my pal beaty wilson’s band and they’re awesome. very much on the pavement-influenced side of things.

architecture in helsinki had to play next since they needed to load-in for their showcase. its a good thing they moved up in the schedule, otherwise i would have missed out on a really fun band. 7 cute australian kids picking up the crown of the lucksmiths and weaving orchestral magic with trombones, clarinets, handclaps and more.

preston school of industry, the project of ex-pavement member scott kannberg was up next. people love to slag on psoi and call it crap but i disagree. scott’s made some really great pop music since the demise of his previous band and this set did not disappoint. he’s got a great repoire with his band and it shows. everyone on and off the stage were having fun.

10:00 - Emo’s Main
i caught some of sweden’s danko jones, whom i wasnt really impressed with, and har mar superstar, who was hilarious as usual. then i left to pack and head to the airport.

if its one thing i really love, its when children are placed into focus groups and asked to comment on songs. it cracks me up. its also a lot better than most music criticism out there.

here’s what kids think about classic rock, radiohead and below, crooked fingers:

“Big Darkness” Crooked Fingers

MA: What are your names?
Two 6 year olds: I’m Victoria Vila-Sanchez. She’s Lexi.

MA: What grade are you in?
V and L: First!

MA: You girls need to start brushing your teeth and stop eating so much candy. Your teeth are all falling out.
Victoria: (Laughing) We brush our teeth! Our teeth fell out because we’re getting our big teeth in!

MA: Oh, ok. I’m going to play a song and I want you to tell me what you think of it.
Lexi: This song is dancing in my brain!
Victoria: It’s a sad, sad song.

MA: Why?
Victoria: Because the man…the um…
Lexi: the singer
Victoria: The singer is very old. And he’s going to die sometime because he’s old.

MA: Why do you think he’s old?
Victoria: He has an old voice. Like my Papi. My Papi is 72.
Lexi: He sounds like a bear, because bears growl (thinks)…and that is like his voice on the song. Bears babies are called cubs. And when a bear stands on his back legs he is very tall.

MA: Those are some interesting facts.
Lexi: I know. I like to learn about bears.

in a similar vein, pitchfork reviews the new daft punk remix album with pictures. i think this is probably the best review they’ve written.

the sxsw community weblog is a great place to start for hearing about everyone’s experiences at the event. lots of writing and photos.

12:00 PM - Kerbey Lane Cafe
eating is important.

1 - 2:00 PM
i wander guadalupe street - its one of those days to be on my own. i buy some film at the co-op. i try on some neat vintage sundresses. i figure out how to ride the mass transit system. i go to the convention center and visit flatstock, where dusty and kevin are exhibiting their work. kevin is selling a package that contains all the posters he’s made for plain parade shows. aw. i spot the most beautiful spoon poster, only to discover its 200$. i buy some postcards and a little pocket notebook from yeehaw industries.

2 - 3:30 PM - Escapist Books Arthur Magazine Party
i head to south austin for the arthurmag party at this teeny little bookstore that is also exhibiting work by mark mothersbaugh of devo. i wind up seeing don, an old co-worker of mine from my days at insound. EZT performs and i like them a lot. i have my second beer of the entire trip.

3:30 - 7PM - South Congress
i wander around austin’s hipster section known as south congress. [thats also the name of a band from philly who are also equally cool.] i find an amazing store called parts & labour, which specializes in selling handmade items from local austin deisgners. i purchase a very cute brown tank topthat has sushi drawings on it and i realize later that it will be another month until i can wear it out without freezing my ass off.

6 - 7:30 PM - Pyramid’s
amy and i eat. food is good. i should note that it is incredibly cheap to eat [and drink!] in austin.

8:00 PM - Buffalo Billiards secretly canadian showcase
scout niblett performs. she is amazing.

9:00 PM - Exodus touch & go showcase
CoCoRosie is parts edith piaf, parts opera singer, part toy machine music and completely mindblowing.

10:00 PM - 6th & Brazos Streets
i see a disproportionate amount of people clamoring around someone singing on a streetcorner. i think, “who is this mary lou lord wannabe?” then i realize it is mary lou lord.

11:00 PM - Blender Bar at the Ritz sub pop records showcase
as i am denied access to the sold out david cross performance at emo’s, i head to the sub pop showcase a bit earlier than expected and am suprised by the energetic performance by the catheters.

12:00AM - Blender Bar at the Ritz
kinski melts my brains with their sonic assault. i text message a friend: who would win in a fight? kinski or bardo pond?

1:00 AM - Blender Bar at the Ritz
the constantines pick up where kinski left off and proceed to completely slay me. best band on the planet. they play until the club turns the power off. i talk to their drummer doug, he points out that im standing right next to j mascis.

in the style of television without pity, i bring you a recaplet of thursday.

Weather Report: 70 degrees, no humidity, but it looks like its going to rain any moment.

10:00 AM
i get sick from eating the awful pizza in texas the night before.

1:00 PM - Emo’s Jr. Tag Team Media / DIW Party
I see the dears perform, largely because i confused which part of Emo’s i was in.

2:00 PM - Emo’s Main
the american analog set performs. i kid you not, but ive never seen them in a live setting.

3:00 PM - Emo’s Main
broken social scene continues to astound me and actually makes me feel 100% better. dan has a brought a pair of earplugs for me to use, which helps a lot. you wont believe how loud the shows are.

4:00PM - Caucus Club Patio Touch & Go / Merge Records Party
dan and i stand around on the ground floor of the patio, listening to tv on the radio. we spot a few people from philly. i have a watermelon ice pop.

5:00 PM - Caucus Club Patio
The Rosebuds perform, once again. dan points out that ivan is wearing the same shirt from the night before.

6:00 PM - Caucus Club Patio
britt daniel of spoon performs solo. i am enthralled. i record it to my cell phone. i call up bucky and force him to listen along to a fiery furnaces cover.

dan and i meet up with my friend will and we proceed to have the longest wait for food ever — 2 hours! i miss out on seeing 27 at emo’s annex.

9:00 PM - Buffalo Billiards
Domino Records, Too Pure & Cold Crush Showcase
Sons and Daughters hail from glasgow but they sound like they’re fresh off the early 80’s LA drag with their boozy X-inspired tunes.

10:00 PM - Emo’s Jr. GSL Showcase
finally! i get to see austin’s rhythm of black lines! they were awesome!

i leave right before they finish up to see if i can get back into buffalo billiards for franz ferdinand. no dice. even ted leo is looking at the line, which snakes around the building and onto brazos, with a disappointed look on his face. turns out we were lucky in not going — the fire department showed up later and the club started throwing people with wristbands out to keep the space under capacity.

being as its midnight, and im tired, i go back to the hotel and sleep.

Sea Ray 8PM, Buffalo Billiards
sea ray make droney, pretty cello-infused songs on par with interpol. they had a huge white fabric stretched across the back wall of the rustic looking buffalo billiards. they projected films which looked as if they were inspired by stan brakhage. the music’s crescendos waxed and waned with the images on the screen, the ending was particularly chaotic and inspiring.

after that, dan and i headed off to the Merge records showcase, where they were giving out neat little pins to commemorate their upcoming 15th anniversary.

Radar Brothers 9PM, the Parrish
the parrish is a new venue in town and its really pretty. its got that big roomy feeling that the upstage had, which is why i enjoyed watching bands here. out of all the bands i watched, radar brother was the biggest disappointment. its not that i have a thing against quiet and slow bands but RB did nothing to differentiate between their songs. they were all structured the same and lacked dynamic. this made it difficult to stand through their set. i got antsy.

Portastatic 10PM
now, here’s a band that can make quiet songs but they all sound different [which is funny because mac macaughan’s other band, superchunk, has a publishing company called “all the songs sound the same”]. mac was accompanied by erron olive on bass and had no drummer, but it still made for an exciting set to watch. old and new songs were played and they brought out a bass clarinet player for a song.

Rosebuds 11PM
i love love love this band. they combine 60s mod sounds with 80’s new wave keyboards and 90’s indie rock. they’re a little bit like an updated butterglory, if you need a more specific reference point. theyre energetic and fun and their set did not disappoint. i bet they won over a few new fans, as well.

it was at this point that i felt so worn out that i wound up going home. i wanted to see philly popsters cordalene rock out, but i called it a night. i heard they played well and ethan hawke was in attendance.