Wedneday, March 17 th SXSW Day 1/St. Patricks' Day

Austin, TX

The SXSW music conference and festival began today. There were conference sessions in the afternoon and the music started in the evening. I began the evening by checking out an Irish singer/songwriter named Mark Geary . It seemed an appropriate way to start since it was St. Patrick's Day. I saw a few bands later including a recent buzz band Modest Mouse.

Thursday, March 18 th SXSW Day 2

Austin, TX

The conference keynote speech was given by Little Richard . Do I even need to say any more. He was hilarious and entertaining as always. I saw Calexico at a party in the afternoon. They are my favorite band of the week so far. That night I went to the Rounder Records showcase and saw Tracy Bonham, Grant Lee Philips, Sarah Harmer and Juliana Hatfield . I saw Ed and Pete who I used to work with at the Kendall Café in Cambridge , MA . They were in Juliana Hatfield's band. I also saw Leanne, Kate, Tom and a few other folks I knew from the Boston scene. It was strange to see everyone I used to hang out with in Austin, but it was nice because I do miss Boston.

Friday, March 19 th SXSW Day 3

Austin, TX

I saw Ken from Macromedia who was there with a friend at the conference. We both went to the interview session with Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips . I got a chance to talk with Wayne afterwords about his songwriting process which was very cool. That night I saw Willard Grant Conspiracy, Broken Social Scene, The Secret Machines and Calexico (again !). These were all great bands, but Broken Social Scene was probably my favorite other than Calexico.

Saturday, March 20 th SXSW Day 4

Austin, TX

The crowds had been building all week, but tonight was the craziest. 6 th street looked like The French Quarter in New Orleans . I saw Tom and Kate outside The Decembrists show. They tried to sneak it with me, but they were foiled. It's ok guys I'm sure you had more fun elsewhere - the show sucked. Fortunately no other bands did that night. I also saw Patti Griffin, Britt Daniel (Spoon), The Hives and Robyn Hitchcock . You know I have to support any other male singer/songwriter that also has 'cock' in his name. I saw David Fricke of Rolling Stone rocking out to The Hives. Most of the crowd was dressed in black - I thought for a moment I might be at a Sisters of Mercy show (it was just a brief flashback).

Sunday, March 21 st Heading Home

Austin to San Francisco by way of Dallas

I'm tired and I've been hungover since Thursday morning. I'm ready to go back to work so I can get some rest. Maybe checking in to detox might be good to. Oh and no more beef for a while either. I saw enough barbeque to last me a while.

LH

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