South by started off well, we ran into two rappers that my sister knew within a span of perhaps five minutes. The first was this big guy named Brother Ali. He's albino. He was looking for the Hilton and by about this time we were so done with walking around in the hot sun that we just sent him on his way in the right direction. Cause apparently there are two Hiltons downtown. Maybe thirty seconds after this encounter Katie and Michael spotted Grieves, this gnarly skater dude who was playing a show that night. They had apparently seen him when he came to Denton and had some sort of zany drunken adventure of some sort. So we hung out with Grieves and his crew for awhile at some pub. Katie chatted about things with the rapper and gave him a "left handed compliment" by saying that his messenger bag looked like a pizza bag and that it suited him. Yay allusions! I talked with some guy in his crew...I think it was the DJ...and we both complained about the generic tunes coming from some sort of "modern rock" band onstage. Obviously they will make millions some day. Anyways after a bit i went to check on the line situation for my show- Echo and the Bunnymen (along with the legendary Circle Jerks and Bad Brains). The guy behind me in line started up some conversation about all the condos sprouting up around town, the ridiculous cover for the night's show, and the lack of decent radio stations in the live music capital of the world. After awhile us earlybirds without badges or wristbands were let in and I caught this English band called the Gallows. The singer spent more time in the crowd than onstage, desperately trying to start some sort of commotion between all the corporate folk who were there just as witnesses. He dropped the F bomb every three seconds and the singer rode around on some guy's shoulders, threw trash-cans, and dove off of the roof over the bar into the crowd. As a side note- by this time I had noticed that the guitarist from one of my favorite bands was there enjoying the show. I didn't approach. Circle Jerks were cool cause their singer was balding and had still managed to maintain dreads down to his knees. Bad brains just seemed out of it and high on not life. Echo was decent and I got a front row center spot for Lips Like Sugar, which was sweeet. The show ended around 2ish and on the car ride home I was this weird combinations of hungry and tired...like I was sitting there, staring at this bag of food at my feet but I could not bring myself to reach down and scoop up some sour belts. I kept thinking about is and looking at it like I should eat something, I really should it's been eight hours since that slice of pizza, I really should just reach down and obtain some sustenance. But I was just too tired. A weird thing that I discovered over the course of the week was that birds start tweeting t around 3 in the morning. It's just really creepy. Then one would start thinking about how birds perceive time, but the thought was never finished due to exhaustion.
Day two: Waiting in line again at Emo's (this time for Passion Pit and Peter Bjorn and John) I has the honor of witnessing the epitome of all hotness in the world pass by me on the sidewalk I had walked so many time before. Craig Owens. For perhaps the second time in my life, I squealed like a fangirl. Not proud of that one but hey it was pretty unexpected to see him just walking down the street. However what happened next nearly overshadowed the chance sighting. Ok so earlier I had eaten some pizza (because that is all there is to eat on 6th) and thrown it away in a trash-can that was fully in view while waiting in line. This detail is important. Like if I looked hard enough I could probably make out the cheese dangling off of it. Anyways so i was just chilling and people watching when this lanky, super legit punk guy walks by. The jacket with the studs, the mohawk, the weary, "I just rolled out of the gutter" look, everything. So I watch him walk over to the trash-can, grab my pizza crust, and rummage around the trash for a little. He then starts munching on MY pizza crust, and walks off into the abyss that is east 6th. It was the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. I didn't know things like that actually happened and that punk ethics existed in real life. The show went pretty well and I proceeded to dance my ass off for nearly the entirety of Passion Pit's set. Which was cool because everyone else was too. Peter Bjorn and John came on and played mostly new songs, which was a little disappointing because I loved Writer's Block. The people in the front of me left just before the encore and I got the best spot in the house, front row center. I was the happiest girl in the world, and it felt like it was just me, Peter, Bjorn, and John as they played Young Folks. Their set came to a close and I joined the mass of people reaching out to John, the singer. He grabbed my hand and started shaking it furiously and saying thankyouthankyouthankyou and I was like OHHHMYYYGODDDDD and I think I fell in love. But not for real...I swore to never wash my hand again, until the next morning when I had to wash those darm Xs off.
The next day there were really no night shows, and after going to bed around three missed all the day shows. So by the time we got downtown it was that wierd time of day where it was too late to try and get into any of the day parties and far to early to even think about getting in line for the evening showcases. So for the time being we just people watched on sixth. We saw many interesting characters, most of which being homeless. By this time I had developed a cough, probably from being cooped up inside Emo's for two days straight. Secondhand smoke is bad, kids! We ventured to the Convention Center and scored a bunch of free swag that littered the building and then proceeded to Flatstock. For those of you not in the know, Flatstock is this giant poster convention where all these artists who design concert posters come and chill. Everything is ll silkscreened by hand and if there is a misprint you get a super nice poster for like five bucks. I chatted it up with some guy from some company and scored some stickers that may or may not have been free. The best thing about SX besides the music and people is getting free things. After that we navigated towards 4th to the bountiful harvest that was the american apparel flea market.
i am going to finish typing this l8er.
