SXSW Shenanigans
SXSW is in full tilt boogie here in Austin, which means my city has been invaded by people on the make (mostly in the professional sense). I went to a couple bust parties during the interactive portion of the schmoozefest, and finally struck it rich yesterday. I worked the day show for Austinist all day and heard a couple of excellent sets. My favorites were the lovely Nicole Atkins pictured above, Apes and Androids, and Architecture in Helsinki. Nicole Atkins sort of sounds like lush lounge music — perhaps part of a genre I’ve heard referred to as “post cabaret,” but, whatever, she’s good. Apes and Androids sound a bit like an ’80s wet dream of what late 70s glam should have been. They have lots of stage makeup and harmonies and are quite fun to listen to. And, you know, Architecture in Helsinki sounds like a thousand other things on college radio, but somehow cuter.
Anyhow, I worked the door for the VIP area so I got an up close and personal look at how people treat the door person. In general, everyone was nice. The exceptions were people who had absolutely no reason to have access to the area but felt that they ought to, and people who were affiliated with one of the smaller bands playing. The latter were particularly grating as they’d get diva-grade pissed off at me for questioning them. I just kept joking that I hadn’t studied my “people who are in the bands who are playing the show today” flashcards enough. But, also, there were at least 10 bands playing. That’s around 50 people, and I didn’t have a list. When Laurie Gallardo wasn’t busy with hosting duties, she’d help me out, which was a major relief, as she has way, way more indie rock street cred than I do.
[Picture by Jeremy Balderson from Nicole Atkins’s MySpace page.]
March 15th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Whee, I’m glad you’re having a good time! I’ve been staying safe uptown during the music festival but I had a BLAST at Interactive.