sxsw

SXSW was awesome. I went down solo this year because Kevin was busy being the responsible breadwinner and working up a storm back here at the homestead. I went down to play shows with Sarah Jaffe, four to be precise, and just hang out and see some great music. We had our first two shows on Thursday, so I headed down Thursday morning, and after a surprisingly smooth experience getting my wrist band, I started the glorious process of trying to find a parking space...

I FOUND ONE! I found a gem of a parking garage that was fairly central to everywhere I had to go that weekend, so I parked there every day. Glory & praise be to San Jacinto & 9th! $8/day keeps the stressful parking process away!

The first show on the list was an afternoon party put on by Little Radio at a venue called Red Eyed Fly. This band I'd never heard of called Shadow Shadow Shade played right before us and they definitely made a fan out of me. I love lots and lots of harmonies and boy did they give them to me. They were super fun and made me wish I was on stage singing with them. Aces!

While they were finishing up and we were getting ready to load our stuff on stage I looked over and saw a man sitting on the back porch of the venue reading an article that inspired me to creepily hover over him whilst trying not to create a shadow and take a picture:


Adorable! He was doing his research!

After the show we trekked over to St. David's Episcopal Church of Austin to get ready for our showcase that evening, which happened to be one block away from my much coveted parking spot! We played that evening after Sharon Van Etten, who I'd never heard of before, but whose voice made me want to cry - in the best way. Her voice was phenomenal and the church sanctuary acoustics seemed to perfectly compliment her style. Beautiful!

Brooklyn Vegan even featured our showcase in their Day 2 in Music & Review. Woohoo! Great pictures and I couldn't believe they chose us alongside peeps like Band of Horses and Broken Social Scene!.

After we played, I went with my friend Lisa to see Kashmir at Maggie May's. The are a Danish band that Kevin & our friend Dragan are both really into, and they were fan-freaking-tastic! Incredible music and great stage presence. It was a great way to end our first day.

Friday was my "day off" so to speak and the festival was my oyster. As good fortune would have it, my dear sweet friend Julie was in town from Brooklyn. She does "web stuff" for Doctors Without Borders up in NYC and got to come down for the interactive portion (read: Nerd Fest - her words not mine) and decided to stay for the music, so we got to hang out all of Friday. I loved seeing her and I miss having her around.


We hung out all day, went to see a fun outdoor show across I-35, then trekked back, got some street food, then headed back to see Cymbals Eat Guitars play at Emo's tent stage. They were fantastic and we stood right in front of the sound guy and had great sight lines.

**cue cold front that swept blusteringly through the city while we slept, only to mock our lack of socks and heavy coats the following morn

Saturday we had our first show at 1pm for the ReadyMade Magazine Party at the Palm Door, which is a beautiful venue. We played with Anais Mitchell, a wonderful folk singer/guitarist who sounds a little too much like Joanna Newsom, but who has hooked up with some major players (Ani Difranco, Bon Iver, The Low Anthem, and more) on her new folk opera album, Hadestown.

Then Sarah, my friend Paul and I walked the many many blocks with our instruments and new tote bags courtesy of ReadyMade to our final venue, where Sarah and I were left to do a duet set since our drummer Jeff had to skedaddle and our guitar player Robert had his own set to do. We played at J Blacks, a great venue (upon looking up the link I just realized that there is a J Blacks in Dallas as well), along with Denton's Seryn, Fort Worth's Telegraph Canyon, and Dallas's Doug Burr.

A great way to end a great weekend. Until next year!