REPORTS

DAILY REPORTS FROM SXSW 2004

SUNDAY March 21

Austin, Texas -- The wandering hordes of South By Southwest (SXSW) revelers on the main Sixth Street drag get larger and more unruly with each passing night and Saturday is the cut-loose party-gras capper. In amongst the fast-food debris squats a poor, bleary-eyed sod who speaks for the majority of conference casualties when he groans aloud "I've never had so much beer and coffee in body at the same time in my life." Still virtually every last venue is filled to capacity with Shiner Bock and Lone Star being guzzled faster than it can be poured and long line-ups of agitated people wearing wristbands waiting to get in. Even over at the out-of-the-way Momo's the line runs down the stairs of the around the corner for the NXNE-sponsored showcase boasting Sam Roberts playing between Metric and All Systems Go. As a fellow Canuck aptly noted, "In Canada, Roberts may be a major label big-deal, but in Austin, he's just some dude sharing a bill with Death From Above." As I was heading over to the Caucus to check out the Coachwhips ? whose strict "no stages" policy means you rarely ever get to see any more than the tops of their heads ? the familiar wheeze of a Farfisa organ caught my ear and led me up to the Caucus Patio. There the saxophone-equiped Harold Ray Live In Concert were tearing it up 60s frat rock style. "Anyone here from the Great Northwest?" gasped the sweaty Ray trying to catch his breath. "Oh yeah, really? Well fuck you, we're from Oakland!" Even before grinning Telstar label boss Todd Abramson flashed me a thumbs up from the wet dancefloor, it was readily apparent that these stomp 'n' strollin' numbskulls had it goin' on. Harold Ray and crew aren't the sort of thing you'd expect Alternative Tentacles get behind but then again, Jello Biafra's taste for musical weirdness doesn't really have any stylistic bounds. The man himself came out to introduce the Evaporators, presumably, but took the opportunity to rail against American Idol for awhile before Nardwuar interrupted. When Biafra countered with a spot-on Nardwuar impression, the meeting of the warped minds escalated into a full-on blatherfest and the loud-mouthed pair began jousting over nerdy obsessions with oddball punk records, forgotten Can-rock curios and chocolate Easter eggs. The ubiquitous Beatle Bob then pressed up against the stage and nodded knowingly to complete picture-perfect SXSW moment.

Tim Perlich