Famous

“Gee shucks, there sure is a lot of fam-ous people here in Austin for south by southwest!!!”

I know, I know, if you are reading this and you live in certain parts of the US (i.e. New York and Los Angeles) you’re probably thinking “yeah, yeah, yeah…” but when you live out in the cuts in a glorified truck stop / state school, you don’t often get to see in person the people you see on television, in movies or on album covers. For us yokels it’s usually kind of a thrill. A cheap thrill, but a thrill nonetheless.

But certainly there exists a healthy contingent of people who are decidedly not impressed, and seeing celebrities up and close is no big deal. I feel kinda caught in the middle. Most famous people, I’ve found, are very nice and appreciative of your attention (as long as you don’t push it and remain kinda mellow. No kissing Mike Patton on the hand or anything…), but there’s always the chance that someone you admire is in a bad mood and is being a total dick to you, Mr. Lou “jerkfacepoopyhead” Reed. And that can honestly ruin your love of their art a little.

But still, for the people who look down on the starstruck and make fun of gawkers, they can right fuck off. There is nothing wrong with showing gratitude to someone for them making art that you have enjoyed, or has influenced and inpired your life. That’s called respect. For some of them, that’s what keeps them going.

For me, I still get a little bit excited when I run into someone I know, famous or not. But honestly, it’s better running into someone you do know, especially when it’s unexpected. Like when I ran into Seattle’s Iceage Cobra on the street corner. On Friday, following my Joseph Arthur interview, I stopped for one second to get my bearings and remember where I was supposed to be going, and whamo! I run into two totally rad dudes, who lead me to another rad dude. I’d rather run into a bunch of excellent friends than Elijah Wood, Michael Stipe (who is apparently gay SURPRISE SURPRISE WOW I NEVER SAW THAT COMING…fucking christ, duh…) or Lou Reed any day of the week. Cheers! Oi! Oi!

Even with South by Southwest prices in full effect, drinks at the Creekside Lounge on 7th Street were pretty cheap. A healthy glass of Jameson on the rocks cost only $4.50. As of right now, I wish they were a little more expensive.

Wednesday afternoon, though, a couple glasses of whiskey seemed like the perfect accompaniment to a performance by Joseph Arthur, who was playing out back. Starting March 18th with Could We Survive, Arthur will release five albums in 2008. Though the artist is known for his tinkering with electronics, Arthur’s set at the Creekside was very stripped down, performing only with a harmonica and an acoustic guitar.

The tall, lanky singer/songwriter, complete with dark sunglasses, proved that his songs were just as strong in these simplified forms. Arthur was somewhat aloof in his delivery, but very colloquial in his rapport with the audience, relating his frustration with some of the new equipment he was using during the set even dedicating the final song to a fan in a Styx T-shirt who had shouted out a request. Though the sound mix was a bit uneven depending upon where you stood, Arthur’s warm, raspy voice held a packed patio’s collective attention through out.

[Photo by Ryan "Daddy" Prado]

After spending some time at the lounge getting organized we set out on our way to get our badges and wristbands dialed in.

We waited in an excruciating long line to get our passes and our camera’s tagged. The process is annoying but I really don’t see any other way around it. It’s pretty damn ridiculous that they actually get away with charging press $500 for a badge when just about every event on the planet just gives them to press for FREE. I guess it just goes to show you that if you have the lock on the market you can pretty much do whatever you want and people will pay for it not matter what. Granted I understand that if we choose to not write about it in the long run it would make a difference but if 100 or 500 or 1,000 media outlets / websites said “fuck it” you have to wonder how long it would take to taper off into nothingness. Now that will more than likely never happen so we’ll continue (just like everyone else) to pay through the nose to cover and continue to build the event which we all actually love no matter how much we have to fork over to cover the goddamn thing.

After that we ended up at the Austinist.com party at Mohawk which was not only a great venue but a great way for us to kick off SXSW 2008. We caught the second half of the We Barbarians from Long Beach, California. Between the free Miller High Life and an amazing set by We Barbarians it was a great kickoff to our SXSW 2008 experience. Plus we love the Austinist.

After that we popped into the Creekside Lounge to see a few song from Joseph Arthur - more on that is coming from James Barone.

From there is was off to see our friends at the Fader for this years Fader Fort party.

We saw this guy in a completely rad Elvis shit - he takes the prize for shirt of the day.