I went out to see a local singer/songwriter I like Heather Eatman . One of her tracks is on my mix.

and then stayed and heard Angela McClusky who BLEW ME AWAY! I'm buying her album today. There are some tracks up on that link. There some Marianne Faithful in her voice, nice band backing her. According to the site, she'll be at SXSW on Friday.

I din't wanna buy you a beer anyway.

Heck, I'll buy you one next time you make it down this-a-way.

Hey, Msbelle! We just had some pictures developed on an old camera & there's one of me & you that I'll have to send you.

woohoo! BTW - my friend with the film at SXSW forgot to tell me he was already there and it screened and whatnot, so obviously I can't now let you know about it. He has been chastized.

Hey all. Just a quick driveby before I head out for another evening of music. Hayden missed who I thought were the best band last night -- IQU (pronounced eye-koo) from Seattle. A duo -- a guy playing samplers, keyboards, guitar and theremin (sometimes all at the same time) and a woman who played keyboards, guitar and sometimes sang. Some of their stuff was reall dancey-new-wave while other stuff was more out there. The highlight was a theremin version of "loving you" ("it's easy 'cause you're beautiful" ... you know the one?). The theremin was perfect for that high note at the end of the chorus; I was embarrassed that I never thought to do that song!

This afternoon, I went to a BBQ in a residential neighborhood with lots of bands playing. The highlight was the guy from the Long Winters (forgot his name) playing solo acoustic. Hayden was there as well, and I also got to meet the elusive Julie Beth!

OK, off to dinner and more rock.

The theremin was perfect for that high note at the end of the chorus; I was embarrassed that I never thought to do that song!

Did a cow explode?

SXSW Roundup for today:

2 pm Atombombpocketknife at B.D. Riley's - bad-fuckin-ass. Way too loud for that little place. I met Minmae and Ted Leo while there, too.

3:30 pm Western Keys at Caucus Club. Lazy and sweet.

4:30 Deathray Davies at Caucus Club. Quite rockin'.

5:30 The Wrens at Caucus Club. Disappointing. I think they're a little overwhelmed by their success.

10:30 Something Something Family Band at Cedar St. Courtyard. Booooo-ring country-rock.

11 pm Knife in the Water at Cedar St. Courtyard. Excellent show and very, very rockin' by KITW standards. The pedal steel player is playing lead guitar exclusively, which is odd. David Fricke was right behind me. I talked with him a bit. Quite a nice guy. I did not tell him that his magazine sucks.

12:10 pm The Bodines at Austin Music Hall. Embarrassing. Especially for the 40ish people shouting woo and doing the rich white folk boogie.

12:30 pm Big Star at Austin Music Hall. Fuckin' cool. I learned three things about Alex Chilton during this set: 1) he's too cool to practice; 2) he's too cool to tune; and 3) he's way too fuckin' cool to sweat, even though he was wearing a white oxford under a Stax t-shirt under a suit jacket. Chilton was playing nice with the audience, and the Big Star tunes were fun, despite the frequent mistakes and tuning problems. They tried to pull out some half-remembered tune at the end, so I left to go catch the end of the Mekons

1:40 am The Mekons at Antone's. The sound in there sucks, but I still dug the hell out of "Now We Have The Bomb," "Last Dance," a majorly rockin' "Hard To Be Human," and "Dan Dare." They seemed a bit chilled and tired. They were also calling themselves the MEEK-uns, which is how the Dutch guys standing next to me during KITW were pronouncing it, too. Odd.

A bit more about Mission of Burma last night. They opened with "That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate," followed by "Max Ernst." The set also included (Jon, tell me if I'm misremembering any of this -- I was both overstimulated and exhausted):

• Trem Two
• This Is Not A Photograph
• Fame and Fortune (which brought a tear to my eye when they changed Roger's middle part lines to "NEW beginning/Happy Endings")
• Train
• Mica
• several new tracks, only one of which rocked mightily
• one of the tracks on Forget, but I don't remember which
• That's When I Reach For My Revolver

First finale: Penelope Houston (pay attention: of the Avengers) came out and sang "American In Me" and DOA's "Class War"

Second finale:

• The Ballad of Johnny Burma
• Academy Fight Song

Thursday Night:

• 8pm - Sound Team - Austin band with an Elephant 6 bent. Two keyboards, guitar, bass, drums. Their recordings are generally short indie-pop songs with odd arrangements, but they were jamming out more tonight.

• 9pm - Bottom of the Hudson - Their CD was one of my faves of 2003 but live they were just OK. A poor-man's GBV. The singer has a deep voice that's Ian Curtis-esque (complete with fake british accent).

• 10pm - Stuck around the club where BotH played and saw a bit of Frog Eyes. Spastic garage band who I might have liked if I were in the right mood, but I wasn't. I left and tried to get in to see Devendra Banhart, but there was a long line and his set had already started so there wasn't much chance of high turnover that would get me in. Gave up and headed to my 11pm appointment.

• 11pm - Irving - Another great elephant 6 inspired band. Think Kinks but with more twists and turns. They had technical problems when setting up, but made up for it from the first song onward. Sexy lyrics too. Highlights were that first song, "The Curious Thing About Leather" (on my "best of 2003" CD), and a song with the chorus "I want to love you in my bed." A woman behind me screamed at the end of every song. I would turn my head slightly and she'd apologize. After the third time, she said, "Sorry -- I have to do that -- I'm their publicist."

• Midnight - Mission of Burma - Surprisingly not sold out when I got there a few songs into the set. The sound could have been better, and the performance was not their best, but like that TV show we all watched, even mediocre MoB is better than most other bands at their best. I think Hayden remembered right with the songs.

one of the tracks on Forget, but I don't remember which

I'll do Friday in a separate post.

Friday afternoon, Pete and I practiced for a while, getting positive feedback from our hosts. Then we went to the convention center where we picked up free swag and watched a few songs by Andrew Bird. He's toured with Clem Snide, so Pete wanted to pay his respects. Then off to an afternoon club show where we saw IQU (worth seeing again!) and had free BBQ. Then to another outdoor club show with the Wrens. Like Hayden, I was underwhelmed, but they won me over a bit near the end. They were between songs, but another band, playing an outdoor show next door were rocking out. The Wrens started listening closely to that other band, and then started playing along with them, finally breaking off and improvising their own song with self-referential lyrics about what was going on. After, we met up with Hayden and some of his friends for dinner. Then, off to the evening's activities!

9pm - Scout Niblet - British woman with a serious Cat Power fetish. Except she smiles and has fun on stage. She plays guitar and drums. The drums songs were interesting since it was just her playing drums and singing. Charming.

10pm - Snow Patrol - Scotland pop band that came highly recommended by a Boston friend of mine, but they were too conventional for my tastes. Left early to get in line for

11pm - TV On The Radio - Band from Brooklyn, described (fairly accurately) by the Austin Chronicle as "the Pixies fronted by Al Green." The club was PACKED, and I was worried that I wouldn't get in. Once in, it was tough to find a good spot to see anything, but halfway through a found a good perch. Definitely worth checking out when they tour. Standing in front of me in line were Jenny Toomey and Rick Karr (NPR guy), but I didn't talk to them except to tell Jenny where another club was (she gave up waiting and headed over there).

Midnight - Metal Urbain - French proto-industrial punk band from the late 70's, supposedly a big influence on Big Black among others. I put a song of theirs, "Lady Coca Cola", on my Buffista mix CD. On record, they combine punk guitars with a drum machine and synth weirdness. Live they were less weird, sounding more like The Ramones with a drum machine. Still, they were fun and I'm glad I saw them.

1am - Calexico - I wanted to see a Polish psychelic folk band called The Magic Carpathians Project, but they couldn't get visas or something. So I saw Calexico. I love them, but I was really tired and was having trouble getting into it. They were at the same club at which TV on the Radio had played, and my perch was still available. I was sitting on a railing on this tiny balcony and I knew it was time to leave when I kept falling asleep. Turns out I should have gone to the club where the Carpathians were supposed to play. Pete went and he told me they were replaced by a cool traditional Uzbekistanian (sp?) outfit. Lots of odd drums and stringed instruments.

Tonight, we play!

I never published my Thursday Night Roundup here, either.

All afternoon: Cherrywood block party The Silos, the guy from Long Winters, & Li'l Cap'n Travis were the bands of note.

Thursday evening, I camped out at La Zona Rosa all night because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get in for Mission of Burma otherwise. LZR has a terrible L shape (bands play in the crook), high ceilings, and the muddiest sound system in Austin. Yuck. The bands were:

9 pm Seachange. Overwrought crap. They sounded like the worst of British alternative rock circa 1986 brought to the lowest common denominator. Urgh.

10 Preston School of Industry. Disappointingly jam-bandish. There was a kernel of goodness in each song, but I really expect more out of an ex-co-leader of Pavement.

11 Pretty Girls Make Graves. Good lord, they rocked. It sounded like the Voidoids with the Gang of Four's rhythm section and Debbie Harry on vocals. But somehow current, too. Wow.

12 Mission of Burma. I felt like I died and went to heaven. Thanks to Jon, I met Clint Conley afterwards, too, and he was quite nice.

Oh yeah, quote of the evening.
Spiral Stairs: "All our songs are about d. boon. Well, me and d. boon."
Guy Behind Me, in all seriousness: "Daniel Boone? Is he kidding?"
His Buddy: "Who else?"

Hey, Jon. What're you planning to hit today?

I'm shooting for The Tillery St. Theater (E. 7th at Tillery) this afternoon for the Pretty Please (which I ain't gonna make), KaitO, maybe a bit of Bedbug, then to Club DeVille for Minmae, then Red Eyed Fly for The Mendoza Line, Centro-Matic, and maybe American Music Club. Ted Leo's playing the Emo's Annex at the same time as AMC.

Tonight I'm shooting for some of the following:
8 Ship & Pilot Antone’s
9 Chris Brokaw Red Eyed Fly
9 Robyn Hitchcock Rockstars (418 E. 6th)
11 Consonant Club Deville
11 Summer Hymns Maggie Mae’s
11 Britt Daniel Red Eyed Fly
12 am Pee Wee Fist Hideout (617 Congress)
12:50 Camber Van Beethoven La Zona Rosa
1 am Decemberists Buffalo Billiards (201 E. 6th)
1 CentroMatic Maggie Mae’s
1 Okkervil River Tambaleo (302 Bowie St)