Dear Louisville,
Greetings from the South by Southwest (SXSW) music conference and festival in Austin, TX.
There’s about 3 dozen of us Louisvillians here, and LEO music editor Peter Berkowitz (me) saw half of them yesterday, either intentionally or, “Hey! I know that guy.”
LEO’s official sponsored band here, Natives (see photos here, by LEO art director Ron Jasin) played at a delightfully cavernous bar, Valhalla, last night, delivering a potent blast of their psych garage rock while some hometown pals cheered them on and drank local brews (my notes on that are spotty, at best, but I recall something about an “Angry Turtle” or something?) The band’s posse included two notable musicians who traveled with them, essentially as roadies slash bros, Parlour’s Tim Furnish and OK Deejays’ DJ Narwahl. Bassist Drew English had also played two sets earlier in the day with Cheyenne Marie Mize, which LEO missed due to travel, but apparently also went well.
LEO also caught up with Houndmouth and Justin Lewis, as well as other local music media personalities. Houndmouth’s set was running behind schedule, and – here’s the thing: Walking is healthy and awesome and stuff, but LEO seemed to pick, or need to be, at shows that were consistently booked a 20-minute walk away from each other. So, first we went west; then, we had to go east; then, back west again, and so on… So, not only was LEO not wearing the right shoes, but LEO also spent a full day traveling, and, oh, also, Austin is on central time. So, if it says “midnight” here, it’s really 1 a.m…
So, because Houndmouth’s set was going to run into Natives’ set, and Houndmouth plays again today, we had to miss them last night. But they, and Justin, and Cheyenne are all playing again today. That’s just how it is in this bizarro world where people don’t do anything but watch hyped bands and drink Monster energy drinks.
Tomorrow, Coliseum, Trophy Wives and The Phantom Family Halo all play, so we hope to catch them, as well.
Meanwhile, there’s a lot more walking to do today, and we’re hoping to see Bruce Springsteen at a urinal, or on the street. We’re pretty sure we saw the singer/guitarist of the Black Keys last night but, if we did, he’s a lot shorter than he looks in Rolling Stone. Other than that, our biggest celebrity sighting was seeing Chrissy Murderbot on our plane. No Jay-Z, Norah Jones, or Skrillex sightings yet.
Stay tuned, neighbors.