music

why i love sxspants: reasons 1-5

SOUTH BY SOUTH MY PANTS!!!!!!!!!

oh you guys. YOU GUYS. I HAD THE BEST TIME EVERRRRRR!!!!!!! i think this year was even better than last year. and i know i say that every year but hello, I AM NOT A LIAR. IT WAS AWESOME.

so awesome, in fact, that i am still recovering. oof. talk about granny pants!

i have so much to tell you!!!! ok so let’s start let’s start!

WEDNESDAY

my first show at sxspants turned out to be one of the BEST, partially cos it was a total surprise! i got to stubb’s early to see ladyhawke at 9, and i had no clue who the first act was until she ran out on stage and melted my pants with FABULOUSNESS.

pants world, meet janelle monáe:

I LOVE THIS WOMAN! seriously, from the first second she was on stage, i was mesmerized by her incredible voice and seriously wacky persona. girlfriend has got STYLE. check out this video of her sweet dance moves (although the audio on my camera is the suck, so you might just want to mute it).

did you watch til the end? watch til the end!!!!!

maybe you guys have already heard of her (and if so, WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?!), but i was pleased as punch to discover such amazing talent during literally my first hour of the festival. that kind of musical serendipity makes my stomach flip flop while i look around at other people and think, “are yr pants melting too?!! they are?? awesome!!!”

reason #1 why i love sxspants: every day and every night, you fall in love with music, over and over again.

janelle is a tough act to follow, but i was really stoked to finally see ladyhawke in person!!!

immediately after her performance, i tweeted, “ladyhawke is the new joan jett,” and, again, i was NOT exaggerating (just so i can stop repeating myself, know that NOTHING on these sxspants entries is an exaggeration. just trust me). she’s got a KILLER rock voice and totally 80s (but in that cool, non-wham way) vibe.

i left stubbs and headed over to buffalo billiards to catch port o’brien (pretty fun– they handed out instruments to the audience!) and a brother sister duo, angus & julia stone (cute but a little too affected for my taste). there are no photos to illustrate this portion of the night cos cameras weren’t allowed… sorry flossie! anyway, i was mainly there to see school of the seven bells, who finally went on at midnight… with really, really bad sound. in fact, it was so loud and distorted that they basically sounded like enya. i left my spot at the front of the stage and just sat in the back, feeling like i was in the middle of a crystal light commercial.

it’s ok, though, cos henri met up with me and we mopeded (yay! moped gang!) to the east side for the first night of the red bull party. it didn’t have the same energy (HAR) as last year, but we did manage to find some fun people, like josh and robert.

the party actually would have been pretty boring, had it not been for the monotonics, who began their set at 3:30 AM, in the middle of the crowd. our friend thomas told us that they would “destroy yr face” and he was sooo not kidding.

the lead singer ended up sitting in a trash can, held aloft by the audience, before jumping on a drum that had been ripped out of the set.

reason #2 why i love sxspants: the above happens. every night.

THURSDAY

henri and i began the day with brunch (but of course!) with our friend rollins and then motoed over to the peacock. i have to give remy, my moped, major props for meeting all of my transportation needs during the festival. she got around so easy! zoom zoom!!!

that’s my moped gang face. WATCH OUT I GO 25 MPH!!!!

unfortunately, the interior of the peacock (where the bands played) was a sweltering oven of sweat and lone star. i took one step in and turned right back around to find some shade amidst the sea of hipsters.

in the spirit of the peacock, here’s my hipster shot of henri and rollins:

soon we decided to leave in search of cooler (as in temperature– don’t worry, hipsters!) locales. rollins begged henri for a ride on his moped, which resulted in the cutest thing EVER. like peas in a pod!!!!

we scooted down to the blissfully breezy auditorium shores and caught a lovely performance by elvis perkins, who i totally mistook for m. ward cos i apparently have v. bad audio perception. but whatever, it was a great show regardless!

plus there was a CUPCAKE TRAILER! YAY!

i actually restrained myself (amazing, i know) cos we were set to have dinner with henri’s friend, matt, who was covering the film festival for the IFC. we decided to introduce him and his coworker, michelle, to the wonders of parkside mac ‘n’ cheese. they were suitably impressed.

i also got in some quality time with one of my favorite parkside gals, skylar!

it was pretty fun to see the restaurant bustling with sxsw pantsers while feeling like a total regular. like, “yeah, you guys are welcome to hang out here for now but… you better be gone before martini monday. ok? ok.”

full of tasty business, henri and i met up with caitlin and her bf james to see the dirty projectors at the emo’s annex. the dirty projectors played AWESOMELY (i really liked the harmonizing), although the sound was a little bit too loud for my granny ears. it got even worse as soon as N.A.S.A. hit the stage, cos they’re sort of like girl talk (but not nearly as good) so there was lots of BASS. and also two girls painted green and wearing silver bikinis:

basically, N.A.S.A. kinda sucked. and blew my ears out. THANKS A LOT, stupid green girls! so i decided to head home. which i realize is lame. but don’t worry! i made up for it later! you’ll see!

FRIDAY

friday began with the breakfast of champion pants: roppolo’s pizza!!

reason #3 why i love sxspants: it gives me the perfect excuse to eat a LOT of super tasty, totally crap food. NOM NOM NOM.

henri and i headed over to club deville to see american analog set, which was kind of a big deal cos they haven’t played a show together in, like, five years. apparently, everyone else knew it was a big deal, too, cos i saw SO MANY OF MY FAVORITE FACES!

like winston and amber!!!!

and jordan, freshly back from brazil, and his fiancee, aimee!

and erik and his gf, stephanie!!!!

reason #4 why i love sxspants: it’s a place where we can all be friends!!!!!

the american analog set was absolutely wonderful, although it kind of made me sleepy.

this little boy sitting on the side of the stage totally felt the same way. well, i think he was kind of bored, too.

speaking of squee, BABY WITH HEADPHONES!!!!!

reason #5 why i love sxspants: BABIES WITH HEADPHONES!

after the show, i got in a little quality time with winston, also known as the poshdeluxe honduras correspondent, also known as the Nicest Guy On Earth.

i didn’t get to see him nearly as much as i wanted to, but at least i got a few hugs in. and one winston hug can, like, cure cancer. no seriously.

oh yeah and i saw this loser:

i have LOTS more adventures to share with you (honestly, the best is yet to come TRUST ME) but i’ve got to save the rest of my reasons til tomorrow.

TO BE CONTINUED!

© 2009 Poshdeluxe.