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.

i realize some of you have never been to sxsw and probably wonder, “how is that you get to see all these bands in such a short amount of time?”

the official sxsw showcases take place during the evening. bands play at specific hourly time slots, starting at 8PM and ending at 1AM. this is to allow people to see bands at different venues without too much complication. one of the nice things about the event is that 95% of the venues are located on or around 6th street, which allows for attendees to get to venues in an incredibly short amount of time. another plus to the venues is that 6th street between I-35 and South Congress is shut down by the police, allowing people to walk in the street, which helps when there’s about 8000 attendees running around.

parties are held in the afternoons, but are not part of sxsw. they’re paid for by other organizations: in most cases a label, but a lot of them are put on by booking agencies, magazines, etc. parties generally end around 6PM so that venues can clean up and prepare for the evening showcases. since they’re not advertised on the sxsw website, you have to keep your ears to the ground and eyes open. the people who put them together also send out invites ahead of time. there’s a couple sites out there that post information about them as well.

lastly, there are instores. once again, theyre not affliated with sxsw. bands play these as well. so, more chances to see bands.

the good thing about having both means you get more chances to see bands. if you miss out on a band because they’re playing a showcase up against another band you want to see, chances are they will play an afternoon party. with a little effort and some good scheduling skills, you’ll have no problem getting to see most of the things you want.

it figures – the day i leave for texas, the weather sucks. royally. the last few weeks in philadelphia have been really beautiful [or at their worst, bearable] but on tuesday it decided to rain and show simultaneously. for those who have never experienced this type of weather, its akin to wandering around in a gigantic slurpee.

i took the train down to BWI airport and waited for my plane. there’s nothing like staying up all night for a 6 a.m. flight that makes you notice strange things. like how the ad campaign for microsoft’s mobile products is super creepy. there’s always one person in the piece and it looks like theyre being watched by some unknown person. [not us, i feel like we're watching this from the outside] or not. perhaps i was projecting my own late-night paranoia on it!

i was asleep before the plane took off, so i cant tell you much about the flight. but thats a good thing – im a horrible flyer. the less i remember about it, the better!

wish i could say the same about my transfer in houston. now, for those who dont know, i am not a fan of this city: its huge, home to horrible wealthy people and evil companies. oh, and everyone seemingly drives a lexus. upon landing, i discovered their airport is named after george bush sr and in the middle of it there’s a huge bronze statue of the man.

i met up with amy and dan at the gate for our flight to austin. we arrived to gigantic blue skies and lovely warm weather. i was horribly overdressed in my typical east coast all black.

amy and i headed to our hotel, where we discovered upon check in that our room was not cleaned! we fixed that one fast. then it was off to the convention center and time to orient ourselves downtown.

we met up with dan at the convention center and headed to chuy’s. if i correctly recall, the bush twins were caught trying to use fake id’s here. while waiting for our table, we replenished our empty stomachs on their freshly made chips and salsa. i had my first beer of the trip, shiner bock.

ill write about my first night of shows next.