Friday at SXSW 2009

Friday at SXSW was the pinnacle for me. I got to see some favorites and some great new acts.

Future Clouds and Radar played the TX Music Reader Appreciation Party.

This kid yodeled.

Now, off to South by San Jose. Neal and Bobby are influencing Flat Stanley. This is not the pic I will send to my friend's 7-year-old son.

Gary Louris of the JayHawks. Amazing Set. See video of Blue below.

Mary and Michael. Mary was one of my profs at UT, now a great friend.

Neal and Monique having a big time at San Jose/Jo's party.

Band playing outside Pita Pit on Congress

Late night on 6th St.

Jason Reeves, at the Driskill. He was one of the people I interviewed for Gibson.

Tinted Windows, Taylor Hanson, Bun E. Carlos, James Iha, and Adam Schlesinger

Okkervil River

Fun to watch the evolution of Will's attire throughout the night as he strips down.

Yes, I like them, if you were wondering.

Future Clouds and Radar, TX Music Party


Gary Louris and Mark Olson, Jo's Coffee - Blue, absolutely beautiful.


Jason Reeves at the Driskill


Tinted Windows at Pangaea


Tinted Windows


Okkervil River at the Parish

Year in Music 2008

I shot video at most of the shows I went to in 2008, so I thought I'd make a compilation of some highlights. There are three things that I realized by looking at the videos:

1. I have gotten pretty good at finagling decent positioning at most shows
2. Bald guys tend to stand in front of me
3. I LOVE living in Austin. I am so inspired by the talented and creative people that I have seen over the past year, and I am honored that many of them are my friends.

The video is 16 minutes, so if you've got a little time to kill, I'd love it if you'd take a look. Features Wilco, Son Volt, Old 97's, Ben Folds, Fastball, Spoon, Okkervil River, Kanye West, Nick Lowe, Jon Dee Graham, Paul Minor, Mario Matteoli, Andrew Duplantis, Lil Capn Travis, Vampire Weekend, Swell Season, M. Ward, Foo Fighters, Brent Adair, Neal Mehta, Phil Dutra, Carrie Rodriguez, Summer Wardrobe, the Steps, the Mother Truckers, Future Clouds and Radar, Hayes Carll... and more!

Have a Happy New Year!

BTW, the new Texas Music magazine is on sale now with writers' picks for top TX CDs of the year. Here are my picks, all of whom are represented in the video:

Old 97's - Blame It On Gravity
Brent Adair - Ostrich
Hayes Carrl - Trouble in Mind
Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
The Steps - The Steps

Videos from Sunday at ACL

Belleville Outfit


Nakia and his Southern Cousins


Massacoustics - no, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. That guy is playing drums, bass and singing at the same time


Galactic


Silversun Pickups


Okkervil River


Foo Fighters close with Best of You


I know, I wasn't that close for Foo Fighters. But, I enjoyed the show from afar. Dave Grohl was so funny, and even though he didn't play until the police dragged him off stage, they played everything I wanted to hear. Great way to close the festival. One of the best closing-night headliners we have had in the 7 years of the festival.

So, now the post-ACL depression sets in. First, I will be in denial. I'll get up early and start packing my bag with sunscreen and Wet Ones, put on a basecamp T-shirt and grab my camp chair. Eventually, reality will set in... and there's always SXSW to look forward to. Wonder who'll be playing that?