SXSW Day 2

Thursday afternoon brought us back to the convention center to pick up our SXXpress pass. We chose Stubb’s again. Then we started the long walk across the bridge to Dominican Joe’s coffee shop. On the way I made friends with a couple of locals. One told me to catch JEFF the brotherhood, a garage punk band, which I wish I would have, but I can do that on April 8th at The Hole here in Omaha. The other said doing SXSW in her cowboy boots was completely comfortable. I was strongly advised against wearing mine but I brought them because how could I go to Austin & leave my boots at home?

We made it before Omaha band The Mynabirds started. The first & last time I saw them I fell in love with Laura Burhenn's soulful voice by the end of their first song so I couldn’t wait to see them here at SXSW. She has a Dusty Springfield look & sound. They sold their first piece of merch to none other than me, a silk scarf screenprinted by Joey Lynch w/ The Mynabirds logo. Shopping & music, such a wonderful combination for someone like me.

On the back patio, we caught a little bit of Brooklyn band, La Strada. There were 7 members & they had an accordion, a cello, a violin & a viola. I really liked their jangly indie pop sound.

Back across the bridge we headed to a Spanish showcase where we listened to Unfinished Symphony while drinking free Spanish beer & eating free paella.

Later we headed to Canvas to see Omaha band & my favorite, It’s True, where it was like we never left Omaha, all the regulars from The Waiting Room were there. It's True made it into NPR's Top 100 bands to hear at SXSW. Another awesome show & another It’s True t-shirt for me! I tried to buy it but Kyle said I get one free after buying 5. Now I just need 1 more to complete the week.

Walking through the streets of Austin I still had the song “Numbers Don’t Lie” by The Mynabirds stuck in my head from earlier & couldn’t stop singing it and right then Dan McCarthy walked by. Weird.

Fletch caught a rickshaw to catch the upbeat sounds of Ozomatli, for a latin mix of salsa, jazz, funk, reggae, hip hop, & heavy on horns. After seeing this photo I wish I had went with him.

In the meantime a gang of us Omahans strutted through the streets of Austin like we owned the place. Sarah, Jesse & I split off & ended up walking in circles inside of Emo’s just to find a bathroom. We then set out to find someplace to eat & rest.

Casino el Camino had an hour wait, so we pushed on. An hour later we found Jaime’s Mexican restaurant where Fletch met back up w/ us and told us about his rickshaw adventure. The driver got completely lost looking for Auditorium Shores but he made it just in time to run to the front & shoot the first few songs of Ozomatli .

After rest & nourishment we used our SXXpress pass at Stubb’s to catch some good old alternative country southern rock by Drive-By Truckers. We stayed for the beautiful high pitched dreamy sounds of Band of Horses. Both played great sets.

Next Jesse & Sarah went to see the frustrated Evan Dando while Fletch & I caught some punk blues from Omaha local garage band Brimstone Howl that I absolutely love, where we ran into Oliver from Little Brazil for the upteenth time.

From there we went to see the rootsy & edgy Delta Spirit at Emo’s. They have so much energy and so does their happy crowd. One guy high-fived me & another wanted to bump fists several times. They definitely had Delta Spirit.

We met Jesse & Sarah at the shuttle and went back to our room for a late night of debouchery & a game of Reefer City. We had to quit with no winners at 5am.

I got 4 hours of sleep while everyone else got about 7.

H.S.I.F! (Holy Shit It’s Friday!)