Now that I have finished cleaning my memory cards and uploaded all my still photos, I can finally start working on all our video from SXSW.
Once again we filmed the Roky Erickson Ice Cream Social over at Threadgill's and this year we were invited to film the Dialtone Records blues showcase over at Lambert's BarBQ. We have close to 12 hours of raw video from 2 cameras to clean up, edit, and post. I started posting a few of the raw videos last night from our fixed camera at the soundboard. So far I have uploaded 4 videos of Roky Erickson and The Explosives with their special guest Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. Keep checking back to see more videos from artists like The Black Angels, Little Joe Washington, The Golden Dogs, Orange Jefferson, The Strange Boys, Ray Reed, And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Spot Barnett and more!!! Click on the "continued" link below to see more Roky and Billy videos.
With all the bands we shot during SXSW we were bound to have problems identifying a few of them, especially during the day parties. We have been able to figure out all the bands except for the ones listed below. All of them played day parties at either Emo's Lounge or Emo's Annex. If you know who any of these bands are please let us know and we will upload the rest of their photos.
Well it took a while but we have most of the SXSW 08 photos posted. I still have at least 4 bands to identify from some Wednesday day parties, but so far we have over 3000 photos posted from this years event. Click on a link below to check them out.
Moby at SXSW 2008 - more photos... photo by Clint Gilders - staff photographer
by jeff barringer
club kingsnake staff
I was neglectful in my SXSW reporting by not posting as often as I should but my 2 hour round trip commute ate more posting time than I thought it would, and I spent all my free time trying to get my memory cards cleaned up. Or sleeping, sometimes. That said, here is the start of a day by day, blow by blow account of my SXSW 08 adventure.
Tuesday - Moby, Moby everywhere, I think I need a shrink. I guess you really never realize how many guys (and I shall note a few girls) look surprisingly like my nemesis Moby. After sitting through most of Moby's interview, listening to him name drop celebrities one after another, and leaving after he discussed his support of the HSUS (more on this later, on one of our other sites), I walked outside, and I swear Moby walked by. Ten minutes later, another Moby, then another, and another. I was surprised at just how many people are either taking fashion clues from him, or just happen to look like him. I mean there must be hundreds of people at SXSW that resembled Moby. Maybe I am just paranoid, but would somebody please tie a bell to him so I can at least know which one is the real Moby?
Billy Bob Thornton and The Box Masters at SXSW 2008 - more photos... photo by Jeff Barringer - staff photographer
I stopped by the Dell Lounge to sit in on a Q & A with Billy Bob Thornton, actor and musician. He was taking questions from the crowd and they were surprisingly reticent to ask anything. After asking 3 or 4 times for a question, I stuck my neck out and asked him if he preferred to be a rock star or a movie star. With a laugh and a big smile he answered that he liked being both but there were definitely differences in the fan base.
Later Clint and I managed to get into his set with his band The Boxmasters over at Antone's, which was a lot of fun. Luckily there was no line and they even managed to sell a few tickets. Billy Bob has a world class band backing him and he had some neat friends in the audience as well. I ran into Paula Nelson and had a chance to say hello, and up in the V.I.P area you could just make out Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. Billy stepped on stage to say hello but didn't play.
Speaking of world class bands the SXSW escalators seemed to offer a treasure trove of music celeb's both minor and major. On Tuesday I ran into Micheal Des Barres on one trip up, and then on the reverse trip down I ran into Paul Collins and the Beat. Everywhere as far as you could see, tattooed rail thin musicians dressed in black trundled up and down the escalators as they got all checked in for the start of the music festival.
I called it a night after the Boxmaster set, leaving Clint in front of his hotel. I got to bed about 3:00a.m. after clearing my email, downloading photos and starting some laundry. The music festival will have started when I wake up and get down there.
For me, the opening show of Canadian Music Week 2008 was a packed room at the Kool Haus featuring The Hives with support from The Donnas and The Carps
Click the thumbnail to view the full size image. All photos by John Hargraft
The Carps are a hard to place in any one genre duo from Scarborough. A mix of rock and punk with some soul/R&B and a little electro. They are Jahmal Tonge doing the lead vocals plus drums and Neil White playing the bass / computer and also some vocals. It was a short set to try to get the early crowd going but most people really just wanted to see The Hives.
After a short break The Donnas came out to a crowd that had grown and was ready for some Rock & Roll. The Ladies don’t disappoint as rock is what these girls do well.
The band hails from Palo Alto, California. A four piece with Brett Anderson (formally Donna A) as lead vocals. Maya Ford (formally Donna F) on Bass. Allison Robertson (formally Donna R) with the Guitar and Torry Castellano (formally Donna C) on the Drums.
For those who don’t know The Hives are a five man band from Fagersta, Sweden. The Hives came out in their classic matching suits and jumped right into a couple songs from their newest release The Black and White Album. Throwing in a few songs from the previous releases Tyrannosaurus Hives and Veni Vidi Vicious, The Hives rounded out the set list. They played for almost an hour straight with a few minutes break and another fifteen minute encore. The band worked hard on the stage never slowing down for an appreciative crowd.
So all in all The Carps piqued my interest, The Donnas were great but The Hives were fantastic. A pretty good start to what should be an action packed week of musical mayhem at CMW.
SXSW is over, the barricades are down, the industry people and bands have, for the most part, gone home, and now it's time for a nap and some vigorous cleanup. I averaged about 3 hours of sleep a night during the music portion, though I wasn't so inventive as other participants about it. I found this concert goer grabbing some sleep Saturday night at the convention center. Lucky bastard.
Click the thumbnail to
view the full size image. All photos by Clint Gilders
One of this years buzz bands/artists was Welsh girl Duffy. I guess if you're looking for a less likely to OD or get a tattoo on her forehead replacement for last year's super buzzed Amy Winehouse, she might fit the bill nicely. I saw her at Stubb's, she sure as hell can sing. I didn't feel my heart go pitter patter or my palms get sweaty like I did the first time I saw Winehouse.
Sorry.
I'm was walking on air as I headed back to the hotel. If you've been here you know that after 7 days at SXSW to feel like your'e walking on anything but broken glass is a blessing.
For reasons I'm not privy to guitarist Josh Hook couldn't make the performance at the YR Radio broadcast stage today, so David stepped up and did an impromptu acoustic set. I loved it. "Nature of the Experiment" was obviously very different but held up. After his third song the crowd response was so strong that he was asked to play another. Monks said something like "I'll play whatever you want" to which someone loudly replied "Elephant Show!". So we got our encore featuring the title track form their soon to be released debut full length.
I'm the big guy with the short fuse..... actually for a lot of years I've had that under control. Now I feel like I have a fuse running the other way. Maybe it's the exhaustion of being at SXSW for eight days or maybe Christie's passion and dedication, but I found I was really moved on Thursday at the Body of War events. Even before coming to Texas watching the trailer for the movie stirred a deep emotional response in me.
I had planned to go to the screening with Christie. Really, I had. Even though I wasn't sure I could sit though that. At the last minute, Christopher Rees asked me to come shoot his show at the New Music from Wales showcase so he could have some photos for a travel piece he's writing for a paper back home. I called Christie and begged off the screening with the promise that I will be at the theatre to take photos during the Q&A afterwards. I was there in plenty of time and listened for close to an hour from the lobby. Suspicions confirmed, I didn't want to sit through that.
On my way back to the Hotel last night Christie sent me a text message asking for some of my Body of War photos to accompany her article. I've been taking well over 1000 photos every day wandering the streets of Autin and had taken several hundred of the Body of War events so I was getting a little behind. It was when I sat down to look at those photos that I felt very proud. When photographing live events you are at the mercy of ambient lighting, but the combination of the skill of the lighting tech at Stubb's and my conscious effort to portray the event in the proper way seem to have suceeded.
Christie's going to post several of my favourites in her feature but to the left is one that I really liked. This was after the showcase and Tomas was posing for a photo with Tom Morello. I like to think of it as everyman whispering in his ear "we're here and we care".
There's sound checking and then there's sooooound checking until the crowd doesn't really care anymore. Oh, and with SXSW's tight scheduling every minute wasted beyond the 20 minutes after the previous band means you'll have on less minute to impress whomever you're trying to impress.
Basia Bulat and her band did their best to get their stage mix to a point where they could perform at their best. A combination of nerves, which several people standing near me noted, along with a stage crew that seemed to be having a hard time dealing with a band made up of autoharp, viola, and tenor 8 string uke.
Ten minutes into her alloted time Basia gave up and came out to do an a capella number before the packed house (SXSW 2008 Buzz band Vampire weekend was performing here at 11:00). Her voice is beautiful and powerful. Serena Ryder, whom I'd also seen for the first time at SXSW 2007, immediately comes to mind. Then the comparison ends. Basia has also has a delightful delicacy to her voice and a delicous bluegrass vibrato. She, like Serena, is also a stunningly beautiful girl.
Joined by by her band, and still soundchecking and bug fixing along the way, Basia's set was short but it hooked me and everyone else in the room. Like I did after experiencing Kimya Dawson the night before at the Body of War showcase I have vowed to search out and buy her music when I get home.
There were boundless reasons to get excited about SXSW this year, and one them had to be the appearance of Canada's country crossover troubadours. The appearance at Smokin' Music was billed as Blue Rodeo and Friends, and truth be told I would have preferred just Blue Rodeo. They were doing their good Canadian duty and giving an opportunity to some very talented musicians whom otherwise may not get to perform in front of a such a large audience at SXSW. But to bring out Oh Sussana after she just finished her set in front of the same crowd seems a bad choice. The audience that steadily thinned out during her stint as a "friend" seemed to agree. Melissa McClelland and Luke Doucet did great jobs and the fellas from the Sadies thoroughly rocked the joint.
Everytime Blue Rodeo lost the friends and did what they do best with songs like "Lost Together", "Hasn't Hit Me Yet", and "Til I Am Myself Again" the crowd would swell, begin moving and begin singing.
The sound in the venue was fantastic and the performances spot on. Cuddy with his leading man good looks and dreamy voice in perfect counterpoint to the rough edges and Dylanesque vocals of Greg Keelor.
I left the hour and twenty minute set happy, but not satisfied. Like a big meal where there wasn't quite enough of the one dish I really craved. Please sir may I have some more Blue Rodeo?
Blue Rodeo at SXSW 2008 photo by Clint Gilders - staff photographer
Blue Rodeo at SXSW 2008 photo by Clint Gilders - staff photographer
I left Clint and Jeff in Austin and headed home after 8 days -- completely exhausted. I had to leave at 5 this morning, which means I've had around four hours sleep, if that. I got back to San Francisco around the time I would normally be getting up. There just isn't enough coffee in all the Starbucks in all the aiport waiting areas in the world to fix that.
My final day at SXSW was the longest and busiest of the entire week, but two events dominate it absolutely: the premiere of an unbelievably powerful documentary, "Body of War," and the showcase concert that followed, featuring artists from the soundtrack including Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, the Nightwatchman), Ben Harper, and Billy Bragg.
The undeniable star of both events was Tomas Young (photo of him visiting Ground Zero, courtesy of bodyofwar.com), the disabled Iraq veteran who is the subject of the film.
I'm still waiting for Clint to upload photos from the "Body of War" film q&a and the concert, and will post more then -- he just texted me from the streets of Austin that he's uploading them shortly. But in the meantime, the CD will be released Tuesday, and the film starts nationwide in the next few weeks -- different dates in different cities. The schedule can be viewed by clicking on "In Theaters" here.
I went for the soundtrack -- and it is incredible, featuring original material by Eddie Vedder as well as contributions from dozens of other alternative artists. But right now I'm just grateful the music got me there, because I wouldn't have missed this for the world.
This morning, Lou Reed will be giving the keynote address for the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, which starts at 11:30 AM Eastern Time. I saw him yesterday at the U.S. premiere of "Lou Reed's Berlin," after which he did an audience Q&A.
As has been usual here in the Austin Convention Center, there's almost no internet access whatsoever, and I may or may not be able to update this as I go along.
This is a live record of the address. I'm typing it in real time and there will be typos. Only things in quotation marks are direct quotes; anything else will be a paraphrase or summary. If you're reading in real time, hit "refresh" now and then to see new material.
Clint is here shooting and we'll get photos added to this post as soon as the Internets allow I have updated with photos.
Roland Swenson one of the founders of SXSW, welcomes us and thanks us for coming out early this morning after a late night.
Last year he stood before this audience and said he feared the war would still be going on and none of the political candidates would be acvocating an end to the war in Iraq... and that was true. Three trillion dollars for the war. What we spend on the war every three days would provide health insurance for every child in the country who does not have it. Conservative pundits say the war is going well. The families of the soldiers who died in the last week would probably disagree.
The good news is that this time next year, we'll have a new president. Normally 75 people attend his local caucus -- this year, 400. "A posture of disaffected cynicism is a luxury we can no longer afford." To quote last year's keynote speaker, Pete Townsend, let's get on our knees and pray we don't get fooled again.
Introduces Louis Black, fellow SXSW founder and editor of the Austin Chronicle.
Lou Reed is such an impotant and influential artist that he's actually, for the first time, nervous. Says SXSW is about artists who are following their vision. If they weren't successful, they keep doing it anyway. They are driven. They have to do the work they do.
Lou Reed has always stayed true to his vision, and he has always inspired other artists because of that.
Standing ovation as Reed takes the stage. Hal Wilner is with him.
Reed calls Wilner one of the great producers, and his friend. They have worked together a long time.
Wilner says he feels like Tony Soprano and his shrink.
"Pretty funny, huh?" deadpans Reed. "Good thing you're a producer."
Wilner said yesterday they showed the American premiere of Julian Schnabel's "Lou Reed's Berlin." Less than half the audience had seen it, though.
Wilner: Lou's heard this before, but this is one of the great things he did (Berlin). Lou is sort of the rock and roll Miles Davis as far as more than half a dozen times, what he does has basically changed the direction of rock and roll. You can't deny the influence of the Velvet Underground, Transformer, Street Hassle, Metal Machine Music.
It is an amazing thing to be be able to put it on stage with choir, strings, horns, the original producer... all from 1973.
"Worst album ever made," "Most depressing album ever made" Reed says, quoting reviews.
Reed: Only a couple of successes, Wild Side, Berlin, Rock and Roll Animal. Berlin was used in a lawsuit against me by management to show why I shouldn't be able to handle my own affairs if I made a record like that. A great example for those seeking guidance in the music industry.
New York was a baby success.
Wilner: People call Billie Holliday records depressing, but they're also very healing.
Reed: Tour is going back out this summer, but only in Europe. Staged originally in Brooklyn with New York people except for Rupert on keyboards. But not in LA, music business town. Not in the states. For those of you who went yesterday, that's what we wanted to show you.
Click the thumbnail to
view the full size image.
All photos by Clint Gilders
SXSW 2007 was my introduction to The Nightwatchman. A surprise show in a back room at Stubb's jammed between sets on the main stage. I've been singing the praises of Tom Morello's solo creation ever since. After I played Christie a little bit of his music she was interested too, and we made plans to head to Esther's Follies at 8:00 on Wednesday and then over to Stubb's for R.E.M.
Cut to 7:00 pm at the hotel for a quick break and to dump the photos from my camera. I open up iCal to double check the schedule and now The Nightwatchman is listed at 11:00 pm. The SXSW Music Big book says 8:00 though. The only way to be sure is to head to the venue and check the schedule posted on the door, and sure enough Tom goes on at 11 now. I kill 3 hours by heading up 6th street and seeing a couple of forgettable bands and the back to Esther's Follies for a couple more forgettable bands.
11:00 arrives and Esther's is packed. Everyone had been sitting in their seats and acting civilized during he earlier bands but during the changeover the floor in front of the stage quickly filled. We made a dash for the front and staked out prime piece of stage front property.
Tom's set this year was fierier than last year. I suspect he's more comfortable in his Nightwatchman role than he was 12 months ago. We were asked to make the loudest noise in Austin while he tuned his guitar to avoid any uncomfortble dead air. He shouted "they turned off my shit" when his guitar unexpectedly cut only to soon realize it was his own doing and to sheepishly intone "I meant to say I turned off my shit". The set included "One Man Revolution","Union Song","Guerilla Radio", and "Flesh Shapes The Day" and the highlight for me "Battle Hymns". No, Slash didn't show up (like he did at the Parish last year), but late in the set Tom was joined by Ben Harper. It was a fantastic duet with their vocals a great counterpoint to each other.
The set ended with an extended version of "The Road I Must Travel". At one point Tom asked for the house lights to be turned on and for everyone to jump up and down and sing because he thought it would be cool to see. We of course complied and it was pretty cool. Oh yeah, I spotted Perry Farrell singing along in the wings too.
[UPDATE from Christie:] Sometimes it's about the music. Sometimes it's about the power of an idea or a cause. Sometimes it's about being in the place where something new, different, or important is happening. And sometimes it's all three of those things. And that's what The Nightwatchman show at SXSW 2008 was.
I don't think that any words that I can assemble into a coherent statement can do justice to either of the headliners I saw perform tonight. I am just stunned. I will let my pictures talk for now.... more later.