Newspaper Page Text
Page 6
flagpole Magazine
March 18, 1992
Tall Tales from the Wild, Wild West...
Day One in
Austin...
Coming into Austin I was first struck by
the size of the city. It is much larger than I
thought. However it is not too big, it is very
green and clean, ideal for a music festival
like SXSW.
Austin has the 2
lodging and ~
convention ca-1
pacity, and be
ing a hub of
music and cul
ture, they’re are
enough venues
for the 350 or
so national and
international
acts in town.
Austinites
boast that they
have more clubs per capita than any other
city or town in the country. Some of these
clubs are infamous, such as Antones, where
Buckwheat Zydeco finished out a stellar
show last night (after 3 AM) on the stage that
has held SRV, James Brown, Muddy Wa
ters, Lightning Hopkins, B.B. King, Albert
Collins, and on and on. Any Blues player up
to snuff knows the honor of playing this great
club. Buckwheat's band worked the crowd
into such a frenzy that there was some
Cajun slam dancing going on.
Earlier in the evening I was slam dancing
to a Ska band at Austin’s home reggae
scene, Mercado Carribe. As the name
suggests, el Mercado is more than a bar
and dance club. Rasta and Irie booths line
the walls, with fare ranging from tarns and
bags to Jamaican coffee and veggie gumbo.
The band I saw, Skankin Pickle, is tops on
my list. We must get them to Athens. They
consist of two maniacs on trombone, a nut
on sax, a drummer, a truly insane,
tongue-lashing bassist, and one of the
coolest chick guitar players I've seen. Their
spastic, riotous stage act makes Fishbone
look lazy, and their sense of humor is
.ground-breaking. Amongst all the frenzy
their songs were fantastic. They’re from San
Jose, CA.
The first bit of music I heard was at the
SXSW opening ceremony by a legendary
Texas bluesman, Roosevelt Thomas Wil
liams, aka Grey Ghost. He sat alone at his
piano as people filled the main ballroom at
the conference center, the Hyatt. He did
“Your Turn to Cry’ and “Fine and Mellow’,
two songs I’m familiar with thanks to Billie
Holliday, along with other tremendously
soulful songs that aptly introduced
out-of-towners to the heritage that flows with
the Brazos.
When all was called to order, Michelle
Shocked took the stage, and added to the
sense of tradition and legacy behind Ameri
can music. She is earnestly enrapped in
black face minstrelsy these days, as her
upcoming Arkansas Traveler album will
prove. She spoke of a vision she had at a
Fishbone show, where the lead singer was
shirtless in overalls playing off another member
of the band whose dress resembled everything
we have
grown to
associate
with the
black city
slicker or
pimp. The
link to the
parodied
Jim Crow
and his
urbane
cousin
Zip Coon
that was
featured in the black face minstrelsy of the
past couple of centuries in America was so
obvious that Shocked became obsessed
with trying to figure out the connection. Her
earnest, PC-laden address strived to instill a
spirit of appreciation for our tremendously
rich musical heritage before turning the
conference over to the movers and shakers
of the present day business.
The panel discussions that fill the day
here are geared to help as many people as
possible to align themselves properly so
that they can make strides. Each panel
group I’ve seen has been informative, made
up of a varied cross-section of people —
musicians, publicists, promo people, label
execs, lawyers, and distributors might share
the same stage. The electrical current ener
gizing the conference is that great social
sport — networking. Perhaps in no other
business is mingling such an integral part of
success. Several of the notable panelists
have stressed the fact that the music busi
ness is a small
community that
travels from
conference to
convention,
and that any
friendships
and align
ments made
could come
back to be the
catalyst for
your success.
Also there is a
hell of a lot of
fun to be had.
After an afternoon of observing this fas
cinating game, I was ready for all the music
the night promised. An outdoor show in the
park that is soon to be renamed Stevie Ray
Vaughn Memorial Park started the evening
off early. Poi Dog Pondering was excellent,
and was followed unexpectedly by Willie
Nelson who played “She’s a Good-hearted
Woman in Love with a Good-Timin Man,
and "On the Road Again’ in tribute to all the
travelling bands now in Austin, the people
that fuel this event.
Thom Federle
City of Music...
The view of the city from the Hyatt Press
room sparkles in colored neon lights, car
headlights, and traffic signals. The lights
reflect off the waters in Town Lake, the small
river that divides downtown Austin from the
south side of the city. The Hyatt, where the
SXSW convention has its base, sits on the
lake in all its
splendor. Mu
sic industry
people are ev
erywhere —
filling up every
nook and
cranny, sitting
outside on this
beautiful
evening buy
ing drinks for
each other as
they work up
deals or meet
old friends.
Producers,
publicists, musicians, booking agents, man
agement companies, record company ex
ecs, radio, television, newspapers — all
with one thing in common — new and origi
nal music
Managers busy themselves introducing
their baby bands to record company pro
fessionals, record companies court the press
and publicity agents, the press courts ev
erybody and
anybody.
Huey Lewis
walks by pre
pared to
tackle ques
tions during a
panel discus
sion on
Songwriters.
Writers from
Spin, the New
York Times,
the LA.
Times, nu
merous weekly entertainment guides like
Creati ve Loafing (and Flagpole, of course...),
L.A. Weekly, and others, fanzines, maga
zine publishers (Scott Becker, Option) held
intensive workshops and lead discussions
from Covering the Local Scene to Women
Rock Writers.
Record companies covered expensives
at parties in various Tex-Mex restaurants
around town. Slash held a luncheon for the
Verlaines at El Mercado, complete with
margaritas, t-shirts and CD giveaways. Epic
records gathered at the Continental Club,
Rounder at La Zona Rosa, Dr. Dream records
held a breakfast gathering at the Hyatt,
Rykodisc met at Green Mesquite...
But the partying really began in the eve
nings, up and down 6th Street, around Red
River, through Congress, and up 5th street
while some 20 plus clubs presented bands
of all natures to card-carrying SXSWers,
wristband wearers, and those willing to pay
the high cover charges.
Levitation from the UK played the 311
Club, Sugar La-La'i from Birmingham
jammed at Chances, Miracle Legion from
New York packed the Jelly Club (followed
by Steve
Wynn!), Judy
Bats from
Knoxville, TN
played Liberty
Lunch, Wire
Train from San
Fransisco ap
peared at
Main Event,
The LaBrea
Stompersfrom
I A t h e n s
P topped the
5 first night in
Austin at the
Saxon Pub. The choices are overwhelming
at times, and you find yourself popping in
one club for 10 minutes, listening and run
ning to the next.
There are some definite highlights on the
band roster for SXSW this year. Mitch Eas
ter, most notably, put together a band—the
Virtuosos, for a showcase at Chances. Eas
ter, formerly of Let’s Active, has worn an
international producer’s hat for bands such
as Australia’s Hummingbirds and The
Someloves, The Forget-Me-Nots from Ire
land and America’s R.E.M., Lava Love and
Dinosaur Jr.
Little Village, performing at the Terrace,
is a band made up of Ry Cooder, John Hiatt,
Jim Keltner, and Nick Lowe! The band is
releasing their debut on Reprise Records.
Downy Mildew, who, having been com
pared to 10,000 Maniacs and the like, are
performing once more with a new recording
due out on High Street Records in April.
The Austin Lounge Lizards are at the
edge of bluesy-folk music mixing in blue-
grass for good measure with a tinge of
country. As the name states, they’re an
Austin band (and there are lots of those
here). They have three albums available,
CHARBON’S
) Specialty Sports
New Dana Design
Packs & Sleeping Bags
Plan ahead!
reserve baehpaclcing equipment
rental now.
Out-dqor 548-7225 • Dive 548-8822
Hours 10-7 Mon to Fri /10-6 Sat * 575 Hawthorne Ave.
§
I
s
filer
RECOLLECTIONS
New!
Weaver's T-Shirts in
45 colors!
Only $14.00
Clayton Street, Downtown