Blog by Blogwest

The eagle has landed...in Austin, TX. Yes, Lady Amy has arrived in this wonderfully hip utopia in the heart of oil country. There are swarms of creepy-looking birds here that make the most awful noise and gather so thick in trees that it looks like the leaves are black instead of green. It was literally like that schoolhouse scene from The Birds when I went into the grocery store today and passed tree after tree of black, winged masses that turned their hundreds of heads to follow me in. It was creepy, but they did not peck my eyes out - yet. Other than that, I've got to say, Texas is awesome. It's 85 degrees here, bright and sunny, and there are cowboy apparel stores everywhere! My friends haven't let me stop yet, but mark my words, I am going to get me a pair of big red cowboy boots with spurs by the time we leave if my life depends on it. And a cowgirl hat.

So you may be thinking, "Austin...cool city, but what's this got to do with pop culture?" Well, my friends who are reading this - which probably means you are still in the Midwest and not where the party's at - for one week every year hipsters from all across the country flock to the Longhorn State for crazy fun times at the South by Southwest Music Festival, the biggest gathering of independent musicians in the country. And that is exactly what I am doing.

It's kind of weird to think about how many independent musicians are all gathered in this one little city at the same time. If Austin got nuked during SXSW, independent music might be dead. It's like why the president and vice president can't travel together and whatnot. There would, of course, be that one band who couldn't afford to go or who got mono right before the trip and would have to take up the charge afterwards.

The festival starts tomorrow (Wednesday) and I am pumped. Devo is "headlining" and speaking on their first music video "The Truth About De-Evolution". I don't think that I'll be able to attend the Thursday speech, but I bet it'll be interesting. I wonder if they'll wear their little energy domes and jump suits for the panel discussion, and if so, which color. If not, I think it would be super weird to see Devo in their streets - like jeans and a t-shirt - weird.

In addition to Devo, some of my favorite indie-rock heroes will be performing throughout the four-day, non-stop party, such as: King Khan & the Shrines, Asobi Seksu, The Decemberists, Grizzly Bear, The Octopus Project, ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, and the love of my life, Yoni Wolf. Sigh. Ahhh.

...Sorry, I got distracted by the thought of Yoni Wolf. Sigh. For those of you who are back home in MPLS and feeling blue about it, don't worry. I've got something for you too. Minneapolis' own radio station, Radio K, will be doing a live broadcast form SXSW and featuring a ton of bands from the festival cycling through their studio on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Tune in if you're feeling like you're missing out - or if you just feel like tuning in!

Okay. I've gotta go party now. Look for some updates on the Blogutwitter throughout the week.

This entry was posted by Lady Amy, on Wednesday, March 18, 2009. You can leave your response.