So we played Southby Southwest...
a couple weeks back, to great acclaim and an actual pot of gold.
Ok, more like we got some wristbands, and a really good bbq dinner. Twice.
Like the Bowery show the week before, we did manage three new songs. And that’s not even countingPulled Fences (the “lines composed a few miles above abbey road” one) or Marked Up , the one we dashed together for our kinda rushed & premature basement studio ribbon-cutting last month (more on the new recording later). For us, having three (or five) new songs, even rough ones, together in a few months is operating at a near Tony-Robbins level of can-do.
Kevin & Charles drove down, leaving Tuesday around 4:00 and getting in really late Wednesday night. Greg & Jerry, not being fools, simply flew on Wednesday.
We stayed at the Hotel du Foncyponts in the center of town there, courtesy Jerry’s extensive work-related travel. Membership in a band with valid day jobs has its privileges.
We played Thursday afternoon for one of SxSW’s celebrated day parties - this one hosted by the super-gracious Brooklyn Vegan & the Agency Group (our booking guru) and maybe Paste Magazine , I think.
It wasn't our best show, not our worst, just…you know, rehearsing.
Even better though, was that all our usual “hey, we’re active seniors, who wants to hear about the ‘70s?” jokes aside, were really were easily twice the age of anyone in the crowd.
Four Moseses in a sea of Joshua.
I was about one ear trumpet and a Pepperidge Farm accent away from retirement after that one, and looked it.
But then Thursday night,we had our main show,
the Absolutely Kosher showcase along with our pals +/-, Sybris and Azeda Booth (whose ep is still downloadable for free from AbKosh). We played really pretty well, and that's me saying it and I hate us.
The venue, one of those horrible themed craptaverns, was called Prague but looked less like the beautiful historic capital city of the Czech Republic and more like a sports bar in a basement that had a secret day-job as Medieval Times. And the staff were a tad stingy on water.
Water.
That was late Thursday night and then we played the Hot Freaks multi-blog party at noon on Friday (thanks again, Hot Freaks, for the invitation to play) and again - I think - played pretty ok, actually. Then we showered and quietly skipped town.
The only thing of real note to the whole trip
is that given what a here's-my-card fest SxSW can be, and the pressure that can kind of go along with playing it, not to mention the opportunity to see so many great bands, it probably speaks volumes about us that after sound-checking Thursday evening, we all ended up back at the hotel, taking naps and watching cable from 8:00 - 11:00pm, pretty much prime banding hours
So for the one night we were all in town, while everyone else for 20 blocks in every direction is getting all South-by and Twitfaced, we're drifting in and out of naps, w/ occasional yelling at an HD Gordon Ramsey like who wins Hell's Kitchen really matters.
We're dull.
But in the end, all totally worth it. ‘Cause we don’t have cable.
[I just realized Hell's Kitchen isn't cable. Still, really nice reception]