SXSW Doneness.

Well that was fun. The festival is over (thought I'm sure there's still plenty going on today because hey, it's the weekend). I took it easier yesterday though still packed in just about everything I wanted to see. The one bust was Rachel Ray's day party...because yes, she hosts a day party during SXSW. I wanted to see what the food would be like at a shindig like that and wondered whether she indeed made it all in 30 minutes or less. But when I got downtown the line was wrapped around the block and had to extend for two more. Popular, she is. It was then I decided to take in part of the Film Festival at the Alamo Ritz right across the street. Stand in line for 3 hours for a party I might not even like or see a movie in a comfy seat? Right. I ended up at a screening of Luckey which was good but sad but good. I emerged into the brightness in time to see Melissa Ferrick as part of the Mpress Records showcase. Whoa. As a singer-songwriter girl, of COURSE I had heard of Melissa...but I had never seen her live. She amazed. Her guitar playing was kick butt. He songs were real. I liked that. So much that after a trip home and a nap (see, I also felt a cold coming on. Nice of it to hold off for the last day), I joined some friends for Melissa Ferrick's official showcase at the Hilton. And was blown away again. I like it when that happens. Then we trucked it over to Stubb's to see the Indigo Girls. I had never seen them live either, which is probably a mortal sin in the world of singer-songwriters, though I am certainly familiar with their material. Great show, lots of new tunes from their new record. And who DOESN'T want to sing along on "Closer to Fine"? So that's that. My cold is in full swing. Real life awaits for the time being. I learned -- or re-learned -- a couple of things this weekend. 1. I love live music. (Duh). To be honest a lot of performing artists get really burned out on seeing other people play, and standing in loud venues, and the fact that it is a "conference" and everything. And there's a difference when you're watching a peer play versus someone you've put on a pedestal as a performing artist. Some people just get over it. I hope I never do. There's too much powerful stuff held in a person on stage with a presence and a message. 2. There's room for everyone if the performance, the music, and the presentation serves the song. Tori Amos walked on stage and kept us all rapt for an hour with a piano. Melissa Ferrick channels an energy with a guitar and her crazy strumming. Lisa Hannigan and Justin Townes Earle channel the same thing but in completely different ways. That's nice to know.

Friday SXSW

Blisters on feet. I think I walked 78 miles up and down 6th Street. But it was all good. I awoke in a Tori daze and wondered whether I should even try topping that...but I got my butt downtown just in time to see Lisa Hannigan take the stage at BD Reilly's Full Irish Breakfast party. I think some of the real magic of SXSW happens at these day parties that kind of lump people together in tight venues based on things like...being from Ireland. Anyway, I was familiar with Lisa from her days touring with Damien Rice and I had just purchased her album, Sea Sew, last week. The album is amazing and the live show was amazinger. She had her full band with her and the whole package was inspiring. She sings with joy. Period. That's all I want. Then I found myself uncharacteristically without a plan...so I wandered in and out of several parties and scored some free stuff. I found myself back at La Zona Rosa and caught part of Gomez's set. And then I took a photo of the fence. There's crap strewn all over Austin right now, from show flyers to CDs to wristbands. In 3 years there will be no CD demos at SXSW and people will just hand out download cards. It'll save plastic and trees and space in my bag. At that point my eyes started glazing over from live music overload so I decided to head up north to my own gig with my good friend Emily Shirley. It was her gig and she let me crash it. So much fun to play with her, and she adds some sweet bass and harmonies to my tunes, too. Then it was back downtown to see Elizabeth Wills play her official showcase at Mother Egan's. It was kickbutt as always. I had fun taking photos. And then...I hoofed it over to the Victorian Room at the Driskill Hotel. Samantha Crane and the Midnight Shivers were playing and I enjoyed them quite a bit. Lucy Wainright Roche took the stage at 12:15 AM...and she was wonderful. I play her song Chicago (on Myspace for your listening pleasure) quite a bit because it's just so singable. And then I went home and slept like a rock again.

South By WOOHOO!

Day two is done, and I should be getting ready to go plod around again for day three...but blogging comes first. Rule number one for being Jana: blogging ALWAYS comes first. I guess it all started Wednesday night when I ended up at the Gibson Showroom for the Austin Music Awards after party. Porterdavis is Best Roots-Rock Band...because they are...so there was celebration. Deadman, Slaid Cleaves, and Hayes Carll played among others and them were good times. Yesterday got off to a good start when I turned in my notice of not renewing my lease on my apartment. Now I actually have to start packing and throwing stuff out for reals because it's...REAL. Eek! I made my way to 6th street, found an excellent parking spot, and wandered in to Waterloo Records. I was there early to see Justin Townes Earle. Luckily there's lots to look at. I did not buy anything, though, as tempting as it was. The weird part was the I, the CD junkie, had the thought many a time of, "I'll just download it." Poor brick and mortar. Part of it is probably the thought that anything I buy will have to be moved down 3 flights of stairs in a month. I digress... The only thing I knew about Justin is that he's Steve Earle's kid and he's a legend in the singer-songwriter parts so I thought why not? I was so impressed. Justin's a great musician and his songs are great and his presence is charming. Charmed! Then I had a couple of options and they were on 6th Street so I trekked quite a few blocks East from Waterloo. The weather was perfect and there was already so much going on for 1:30 in the afternoon. I knew Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines were doing a Gibson showcase, but I had no idea what time they were playing...so I decided to try that party first and just see. Lo and behold I walk up the stairs at Maggie Mae's and Terri and Lloyd are sound checking. SCORE. They did 4 songs and I was thrilled because it's been months since I've had a Terri show fix. Afterwards Brandon, the manager for porterdavis who also works for Gibson, hooked me up with this sweet wristband. Dear Brandon, you are my favorite. That got me into the VIP lounge where Terri and Lloyd were being interviewed. After that Randy Rogers and Mark Jungers played followed by Bruce Robison with my buddy and Red Leaf teacher Kevin Carroll on guitar. Bruce is a great songwriter and the likes of the Dixie Chicks, Tim McGraw, and George Strait have covered his stuff. Then it was over to Artz Rib House for Elizabeth Wills and a Diet Coke. And some photo fun. And THEN...then...Elizabeth and I headed over to La Zona Rosa to see about some Tori Amos. We cruised in with good parking karma and there wasn't a line to get in. We found a spot on the left side of the stage and planted. Perez Hilton introduced her which is maybe my first encounter with a blogger celebrity in real life. And there was TORI. I got to see Tori in college and she converted me into the type of fan that will forever buy her albums on the first day of release. My shortlist of artists like that is well...short. The thing that I love about Tori is her stage presence and musicianship. She's a classically trained pianist and an impeccable singer and when she's in the room, you're watching her. Her command of the audience is one of the best I've ever seen from anyone. Always observing. We got to hear 3 new tunes from her new record and also some classics like "Crucify" and "Cloud On My Tongue" and "Silent All These Years." Yeah. And I went home and went to bed and now I need to do it all over again.

T-Minus One Day

...until I score my SXSW wristband. All right, so I've been reading and it seems like the panels are not be accessible with a crew wristband for SXSW. Which is what I am getting, I think. I'm new to this whole "paying attention" thing, haha. There is quite the slew of different badges and wristbands and platinum things and such. Which is totally fine because: a) I plan to spend all of my Thursday waiting in line to see Tori Amos if I have to dangit. I assume there will be a line. Tori. Amos. b) Susan said, "Um...shouldn't you be teaching the panel on Merch?" Haha one day. One day. That does not make the music-seeing planning any easier...I hope to maybe try to fit in Joe Pug and Lucy Wainright Roche and Nellie McKay and Lisa Hannigan and John Gorka and oh yeah Tori Amos. Part of me just wants to wander around and see what I see, though. Scheduling makes me itchy because I do it for a living.

Snot by Southwest

Porterdavis at SXSW 3.15.07 I thought I'd riff on the popular hobby of making fun of the SXSW (TM) brand behemoth here...some of the happy little knock-offs I encountered last week: - The geographically oriented South by South Congress and South by South Lamar...simple street names. I can handle that. - The more obvious ripoffs like...South by San Antonio and South by San Jose. Oh, and South by Northwest. That one makes my head spin. Perhaps my favorite is South by Way South, in case you're not South enough. - Then there were the more flippant copycats...almost too cool for SXSW but still able to mock it by ripping it off...South by So What? and Free by No Charge. (Now we're getting into the territory of "Anything by Anything Else" is free game). - The best? Ok, maybe not the best. But the one that stood out? FXFU. You figure it out. My blatant title is derived from the unfortunate circumstance of being sick for most of SXSW week. This severely cramped my desire to stand, walk, breathe, or do anything but sleep. I did manage to see some cool music, though. Pam Tillis played in a parking lot. She was so totally on Country Music Television a decade ago. I happily stumbled in on Porterdavis at The Gingerman...they are one of my very favorite local groups and they rocked. Melissa on the Rocks...rocks. Melissa on the Rocks totally amped it up for Cafe Caffeine's stage on Sunday...and then Melissa and I tromped over to B Exhibition Studio for the GoGirls Showcase. I played right after 3 Kisses, the band that was on Wife Swap. They are awesome people. They have a song called Swapping Wives. They have wonderful senses of humor. :) And here I am a full week after encountering the cold virus of the century, feeling much better and looking back on 2 weeks of really fun gigs. The Jana Susana Banana Rama was just fun...the GoGirls gig was inspiring...my St. Patrick's Day show at the Irie Bean was a nice little window into Spring weather and blue skies. Last night I saw an incredible lineup at Maria's Taco Express...Cindy Cashdollar, Redd Volkaert, and Elana James...all who have played with Bob Dylan and a plethora of other people...all hanging out at Maria's in South Austin on a Wednesday night. These are certainly grand times indeed. Swingin' joy at Maria's Taco Express