SXSW Recap - Tuesday through Thursday

Whew. That week goes by, don't it? These descriptions will assuredly be truncated, because I'm too tired and bloated - but not hung over, perhaps a SXSW first for me - to wax too eloquently this evening.

Tuesday, I saw two more docs, Some Assembly Required and Tulia, Texas. Some Assembly Required is a sweet little doc about an annual, nation-wide toy contest for fifth through eighth graders. It's pretty typical in that it follows several groups of kids, including some from impoverished backgrounds, some from public schools, some from exclusive private schools, etc., as they go through the trials and tribulations of inventing a toy for this contest. They were all sweet, funny, mostly hyper-gifted nerdy kids, no matter what their background, and I enjoyed watching them, and the movie. However, I won't claim that it was a concept I'd never seen before; Spellbound, in particular, was an awesome example of this genre.)

Tulia, Texas was, as you can probably surmise from the title, a doc about the horrible racial injustices that went down in that small town several years ago. (If you don't know the story, you can get a basic rundown of it here, and this is a link to the book written by Nate Blakeslee from Texas Monthly, where I first read about it.) It was a very good film. I think it should be mandatory watching for anyone who doesn't know the whole story; if you do, then it probably won't surprise you much, but it's still worth watching.

Wednesday, the music festival started. The sun had come out, and it was finally Austin March Warm, so I was sort of in the mood to get out of the theater, see some crowds, and breathe some stale bar air. The Man and I wandered aimlessly around Red River for a while, picking up free swag and floating in and out of a few bars.

That evening, we went to see Black Joe Lewis at Emo's, which was a GREAT way to kick off the festival. I'm not really a huge blues fan, but I'm a sucker for a horn section. His set was killer - high-energy R&B with a lot of humor. We then saw Eric Hisaw at the Ale House - good alt/country singer, local. (True story: The Man took me to see him at Hole in the Wall on our first date. I was all thrilled to be on this date, don't get me wrong, but a good portion of the evening I was staring at this guy on the stage, who was totally hot, thinking, "Hmm, nice guy, but if our date doesn't work out...")

Later, I went to see Kitty, Daisy, and Lewis at some bar I'd never hear of off 6th Street. Kitty, Daisy, and Lewis are three teenagers from London, and they play in a family rockabilly band with their dad on acoustic guitar and their mom on the stand-up bass. It was apparently a "buzz" show, because the place was packed to the gills. And, I have to say, they rocked the place pretty hard, especially given the fact that they're fifteen, seventeen, and nineteen years old! (They're freaky into the rockabilly thing, though, from the pompadour on the son to the plucked eyebrows, thick heels, and finger waves on the girls. I'm going to go with "pretty cool," though, though Noxious dubbed them "creepy." I don't know, check out their page and let me know what you think.)

I would have stayed to see Alabama 3 just for Bookhart that evening, but The Man, having had many many beers that evening and some bad luck all around, ditched me when he decided that his evening was only getting worse by the second. Not relishing the idea of hanging out on 6th Street by myself during South By, and recognizing that I had a full day planned on Thursday, I went on home myself.

Thursday, I didn't go see any music, as I was attending a funeral in Houston. Though I didn't drive - Julie, you are a goddess - I was pretty tired out from the up-and-back trip, and the circumstances of he occasion, so I bailed on any festivities that evening, and just hung out with my mom.

And...damn, I was going to have this be the whole recap, but I have hit the wall. I shall endeavor to finish it tomorrow. (It's not really any more exciting; I saw some good music, drank some free beer and some not-free beer, took a "diet detour" for a few days, and stayed up too late on at least one night. But, I never got drunk...though I did LOOK very drunk at one point last night, when I fell on my wrist and knee, just from walking over a bumpy sidewalk as I was scanning my eyes around looking for my car. I love myself!)