sxsw part 2

ooh wee! such fun posting at 1:30 in the morning after the last two long days and nights of sxsw. i'm sure the memories are going to be out of synch and more than a little blurry. just got back from red eye fly and saw the bloodshot showcase. at least most of it. the band we stayed for, the detroit cobras, had taken too much of whatever they're taking these days and just were not together. too bad, because we really had looked forward to them. we left about halfway through their set. the lead singer was comfortably numb and the rhythm guitarist was in a world of her own--just not our world. we also saw the deadstring brothers for the second time. we first saw them at yard dog on friday where they committed the cardinal sin of dissing the sound guy before the gig. most bands know better than to do it publicly. it would just be their luck that they get some big gig in the future and who's running sound? the guy they made look bad back in austin. not good. he must be an acquaintance, however, since he ran sound for them at red eye fly also. appears things aren't too copacetic in that band, either, as we noticed some testiness between certain band members during the set. not a bad set, though. the silos were very good with walter salas humara running through lots of songs from their new bloodshot release with jon dee graham sitting in on guitar. saw a nice opening set from john rauhouse as well. we also caught alejandro escovedo downtown during the afternoon at tresoros trading company doing his usual excellent set. he informed the crowd that the venue was to be torn down next year for a new hotel. odd that all the hispanic businesses seem to be affected by this new hotel... i dimly recall seeing part of the ponderosa stomp on friday. we got there late and thought we had missed rockabilly legend ray sharpe, but found he was still on stage, backed up by three members of the sir douglas quintet with charlie sexton on guitar. we were surprised to see he was black, having assumed he was a white southern rockabilly guy. a pleasant surprise, indeed. he played an excellent set showing off impressive blues licks on guitar. he was having so much fun, his set went over time. we also saw steel guitar legend herb remington who had played with such luminaries as bob wills and hank penny. caroline was jazzed to see darrell anger playing fiddle with him. we then headed over to downtown to see john hammond and his band do an excellent set of uptempo raw blues. two young girls standing next to me commented, "this is good lovemaking music." indeed it was. he has aged a bit, but the lines drop off and he looks twenty years younger once he starts to sing. we saw a bit of james mcmurtry at big red sun before we headed off to dinner at our favorite mexican gourmet restaurant, fonda san miguel. i'm not quite sure why all the bands we wanted to see were sequestered on 6th street this year. did the more respectable bars on west 6th street have some problem with sxsw, or what? normally we don't go over to east 6th street at all. who am i forgetting--ahh--graham parker at yard dog. a nice set of newer stuff from his latest album. very dylan-like lyrics--quite good. he also did "hotel chambermaid" per audience request. we kept hearing that pete townshend was showing up and jamming at various places in town, but we never got to see him, unfortunately. i'm sure i've missed something. i'll try and post more either tomorrow or when i get home. we'll do a sxsw show at some point soon on kkfi. i've got a pledge drive show to do when i get back with lonesome cowboy bill, then a surprise show on april fool's day, then maybe i get to do a new show. caroline and i will also fill in for jeanne jasperse on the 25th, by the way. be sure to pledge lots. she is sorry to miss the show, so let's make her feel good, ok?