event

Day 3 of SXSW was a tough one, because it’s so difficult to budget time.  On the one hand, the purpose of being here is to see as many new bands as possible, but on the other hand there are incredible major artists performing in small venues all the time.  If I had a third hand, it would be drunk and making out with strangers. There was just not enough time to be everywhere I wanted to be.

My first stop was Red Eyed Fly, where a psychedelic indie band called Darker My Love were playing.  I first saw those guys when they opened for the Dandy Warhols in New York, and knew I’d really enjoyed their huge, noisy pop songs.  I also remembered somewhere in the back of my mind that Andy Granelli from the Distillers had been their drummer, which was an added bonus.  However, it had been two years, and Andy Granelli is no longer a part of the band – and it turns out that my Roky Erickson experience Wednesday afternoon was not an isolated incident.  I just cannot begin my day properly with psychedelic rock bands.  They make me cranky.  Perhaps tomorrow I will start my day with a nutritious breakfast instead.

Darker My Love sounded great, and the vocal harmonies were just lovely, but I was anxious about the main event of the day…

Coming for you, @CourtneyLoveUK.

Without getting into it too much, I should note that I have a history with Courtney Love. Last autumn I started a Twitter account called @CLTranslated to help translate the internet ramblings of Courtney Love into plain English for the rest of the world.  It got a lot of attention from various major publications around the world, from the Guardian to the Village Voice (2009 Best Of issue!) to an interview in SPIN.  It was EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that I attend Hole’s first American concert in about ten thousand years. Unfortunately, there was a guest list issue, and I ended up arguing with the women at the door. I’ve spent years working the guest list at clubs all over New York City, and I would have found my entitled attitude totally insufferable, but there I was. I needed to see this show.

SXSW Survival Tip #4: Don’t be a dick. The people working at these clubs are already stressed enough.

While I was waiting to get sorted out, a band across the street from Stubb’s were playing “Please Mr. Postman,” one of the best songs ever.  Just saying. [Read More...]

Good morning/afternoon/evening, my darlings.  I apologise for the lateness of this post, but yesterday was a very full day and if not for the glorious Red Bull truck circling the premises, we would surely be dead by now.  What were you up to yesterday?  I saw bands!  Let’s get to it!

i. Kid Sister & Me

Thursday morning, I scraped myself out of bed with one mission in mind: to finally see Kid Sister after three years and about eight or nine failed attempts. For those of you who haven’t heard her, Kid Sister is Melisa Young, a Chicago-based rapper who rhymes over electro beats.  She’s best known for her single “Pro Nails” featuring Kanye West:

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Anyway, I’ve loved Kid Sister for years but every time I’ve tried to see her (ie, last night) I’ve been thwarted somehow.  I arrived at the outdoor stage early, and was pleased to see that a decent-sized crowd had the same idea. I even spotted British synthesizer chanteuse Little Boots lurking around, commenting loudly to a friend how grateful she was to not be playing 45 times a day like last year.  When our hero finally took the stage, she announced “Hello Austin! It is EARLY AS HELL!” Despite it being the crack of dawn (um, a little after 2 PM) and the blazing hot sun beating down upon the stage, Kid Sister gave her performance everything she had. Also, she was wearing possibly the world’s most adorable outfit:

Can't see her toes, but they're probably done up much like her fingernails.

The set was energetic enough for us to forget our hangovers, and we were treated to almost every song off Kid Sister’s debut album Ultraviolet.  The highlight for me was “Big n Bad,” which samples Yaz’s “Situation.”  At the end of her set, she and her DJ threw lollipops into the crowd, potentially blinding dozens of hip concertgoers.  Because I love you, here is Kid Sister’s single “Right Hand Hi.”

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ii. I Find My People at the Ukulele Festival

My next trip was to Jaime’s Spanish Food, where a ukulele festival of sorts was taking place on the patio.  The mission of the two-day event was to play every single Beatles song on the uke, with the assistance of various guest vocalists and backing instrumentalists.  I am a fan of anything that can be done with the ukulele (ie, I sit at home playing Lady Gaga songs all day and night, much to the chagrin of my housemates), so I stuck around for a few performances. Here is a kid I estimate to be about 11 playing the cello and singing a Beatles song I shamefully do not know the name of:

Anyway the important factor here is that somehow I ended up sitting at a table at the restaurant inside, talking to Nigel Harrison from Blondie while he ate a taco salad.  He was very nice, but the conversation was very strange.  I was wearing a Stooges t-shirt, and Mr. Harrison told me about the days when he used to play with Iggy (“I call him Jim, of course.”) and how Iggy would slice his chest up with razors on stage.  I mentioned that I was a huge fan of everything Joan Jett has ever done, and he casually dropped that he’d played bass on a Runways record.  These things are all true (I know because I snuck off to the bathroom and Googled them), but I had nothing constructive to add.  SXSW, you are so random and amazing.  I love you.  Let’s make out.

iii. A-Claud Moves Members of the Audience Around,
Poses Them As if They Are Furniture

I stopped at Club DeVille for about thirty seconds to catch three songs of Vivian Girls‘ set.  Everybody loves Vivian Girls!  Do you like the Vivian Girls?  It was very crowded!  Here they are:

Next on the agenda was a French Canadian party on the upper level of the Paradise.  I was there to see one of my first unexpected SXSW discoveries, a Montreal band called Duchess Says.  Sonically, they’re what would happen if the Yeah Yeah Yeahs never wrote melodic love songs and focused instead on making dissonant noise (in fact, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs took them out on a European tour after Nick Zinner spotted them at last year’s CMJ Music Marathon in New York).  Singer A-Claude is notorious for getting the crowd involved in the band’s performances, and she’ll climb sound equipment, barstools or actual members of the audience to make her point.  When the boys in the band finally took the stage, the kids in the crowd gave A-Claude a wide berth to do what she does best.

A-Claude didn’t disappoint us for a second.  She moved members of the audience around and posed them as though they were furniture.  She climbed on top of a table, played with the table cloth, brought a girl up to dance, and then dragged both the girl and the table into the center of the room.  At one point, she unlocked a door to the patio and instructed everyone in the room to exit the performance space one by one.  We obliged.  I have never seen a band make its audience leave the show before, but we all snuck back in through another open door.  When she shouted “EVERYONE!  We all need to lie down!” we did as we were told.

If I'll lie on the floor of a bar for you, you've gotta be good.

Nobody ever really watches the boys in the band while A-Claude is bossing the room around, but I enjoyed watching them for a few songs.  I was surprised to notice that the guy on the Moog plays most of the basslines, while the bass player seemed to play parts I would have assumed were keyboards.  I sort of hope Duchess Says stay small, because I always want to see them in tiny rooms and examine them from every possible angle.  Their set was completely entertaining. [Read More...]

Last year when Autostraddle was only two weeks old, our dear music lover Stef reported live from SXSW for you, and well, you really liked it so you will all be happy to know that Stef is back for SXSW 2010: The Captain’s Log! Live from Austin, Texas, South by Southwest 2010!

Once a year, the music industry gathers from the far corners of the universe to convene in the Live Music Capital of the Universe, sunny Austin, Texas.  This event, known as South by Southwest or SXSW for short, is part festival, part showcase, part seminar and many parts ridiculous.  The purpose of SXSW is essentially threefold:

1. to discuss new ideas and approaches in various fields of music, from digital distribution to marketing to artist management
2. to showcase new artists and figure out who will be the hot ticket for the upcoming year
3. SPRING BREEEEAAAAAKKKKK!!

As a depraved human being who eats, breathes and lives for rock’n'roll, SXSW has historically been mostly the latter for me.  This is my third consecutive year, and each time I find my mission statement focuses slightly less on discovering new music obsessions and slightly more on locating the open bars and making out with cute strangers. That said, this year’s schedule is full of absolutely amazing acts and I’m ready to experience as many of them as possible and share the experience with you, just as I did last year.

i. Lap of Luxury/Back of the Venue

On Wednesday I arrived in Austin feeling a bit frazzled from my 6 AM flight.  I met up with my darling friends Jill and Mildred, and thus began our great Texan adventure. After discovering we had accidentally checked into a really swanky hotel complete with a king-sized sleep number bed (hello ladies), we took off almost immediately for the first act of the day, Roky Erickson with Okkerville River at the Galaxy Room. Roky’s hardly a new act – as the brainchild behind the 13th Floor Elevators, Roky was hugely influential on psychedelic rock in the late 1960s – but we figured it would be a mellow start to our day.

SXSW Survival Tip #1: If an amazing artist’s super-intimate set sounds too good to be true, guess what?  It also sounded that way to like ten thousand other people who also enjoy that band. Roky sounded great, but we couldn’t see a damn thing. [Read More...]

The GLAAD Awards took place in New York City on Saturday night, and Robin and Taylor went out into the blustery day to capture the event. Taylor has some interviews with maintenance men which perhaps she will share with you soon.

In the meantime, check out the fantastic red carpet photos by Robin Roemer for Autostraddle.

Vogue Evolution

Sandra Bernhard

Cynthia Nixon

Cynthia Nixon won the Vito Russel award, presented to an openly lesbian or gay member of the entertainment or media community for outstanding contributions toward eliminating homophobia. Here’s Cynthia at a New York City Gay Marriage Rally in 2009:

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1:00 AM: Well that’s all folks! If you were following along, go back ’cause we’ve added a bunch of photos from the night.

Juelz Knowles and Beyonce at the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards

12:22 AM: Remember in the beginning, when we were young and Taylor Swift hadn’t won something for no reason? And Lady Gaga was performing? Also does anyone else think it’s quite honestly possible that The Grammys were rigged? People do crazy shit for money it’s the recession! #conspiracytheory IT’S ‘CAUSE LADY GAGA IS QUEER THAT’S WHY YOU GUYS

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