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Monday, March 30, 2009

SXSW: Day Three

Jumbo Slice drags his kid out to SXSW

Day Three of SXSW 2009. I skipped the Friday day parties so I was rested and ready for the evening. I started out at my friend Callie's (a.k.a. Show Lush) house. She hosts great backyard shows and for SXSW she was featuring Salvador Duran. It began early so my wife and daughter joined the party. Duran is a Tucson based flamenco guitarist who has toured with bands such as Calexico and Iron and Wine. His music incorporates many styles but much is based on traditional Mexican folk music. He plays guitar while his feet provide percussion via a wooden stomping box. I didn't understand what he was singing about but it didn't matter. It was a mesmerizing performance that amazed all in attendance but perhaps none more than my daughter. She was super squirmy all evening but the moment Salvador started singing with that beautiful voice she was as still as a statue enraptured by his music.

Future of the Left

After a quick dinner at Whole Foods I met a certain Going Out Guru for Future of the Left. As I said in on Twitter, "Future of the Left is fierce, funny, funky, but mostly really pissed off." I saw a lot of good bands at SXSW but Future of the Left was the best. The stage was above the crowd with the bar serving as a moat. The venue normally hosts burlesque shows so it was a odd to see a bunch of angry Scots Welsh guys ripping through songs. By the end of the set I was kicking myself for not seeing them earlier in the day.

Next up was a quick meeting with some friends at another bar. A band called Casiokids was onstage and it was the complete antithesis of the intensity we just experienced. Nonetheless the place was packed with lots of dancing hotties so the band was doing something right. After one beer we were back on 6th Street heading to see Kurt Vile.

Kurt Vile

All I knew about Kurt Vile was that he was a member of The War on Drugs, the Philadelphia band that released the excellent Wagonwheel Blues album last year. At this particular show was the head honcho from Matador Records, one of the labels vying to sign Vile. If having a label executive there bothered him it didn't show. He operated without a set list and his banter to the crowd was pretty bland. However, when he was playing it was clear the kid has something special. Based on what I heard that night, I wouldn't be surprised if five years from now I'm bragging about seeing Kurt Vile perform to a room of less than 20 people, before he hit it big.

Major Stars

Next up was Major Stars from Boston. Wow this is an unattractive band. Good thing they can rock. They played some crazy psychedelic and heavy shit. It was a little jammy, a little sloppy, but overall they put on an entertaining show. Then we skipped over to Emo's for the final bands of the night. I caught a few songs by Crystals Stilts before switching to the other stage to see a band I've wanted to see for some time: King Khan and the Shrines.

"Would you fuck me? I'd fuck me. I'd fuck me hard."

This review is already way too long so I'll keep this brief. King Khan did his best James Brown impression and about halfway through the set one of The Shrines did his best Jame Gum Gumb ("Buffalo Bill") impression. It made me throw up in my mouth a little so I figured I'd share it with all of you. Enjoy.

Tomorrow: Day Four of SXSW and my final recap.

9 comments:

Jimbromski said...

good god

Anonymous said...

Wow! Please give a NSFW warning the next time a Jame Gum photo is posted!! Trying to get that image out of my head...
--Swetty

Jumbo Slice said...

I had no warning, our readers get no warning. BTW, like how I lured people in with the cutesy photo of me w/ my kid then end with Jame Gum? Had to get the wife's approval for both pitcures to appear in the same post.

Unknown said...

you better hope future of the left doesn't read this. because they are welsh and you called them scottish and you know how angry they can get.

kurt vile is going to bring about world peace and cure cancer.

Jumbo Slice said...

Dammit, I meant to double check that and I forgot. I'll correct it before I get threatening emails from them.

Jimbromski said...

that photo technically is SFW as there is no exposed penis

sacklunch said...

It's Jame Gumb, with a "b" on the end.
Get your facts straight, Jumboslice.

Jumbo Slice said...

Do we have any money left in the Rock Club budget to hire a copy editor? I clearly need one. Maybe we can siphon off money from one of our many Rock Club charities.

Potsy said...

Classic Jumbo Slice prose:
Duran is a Tucson based flamenco guitarist who has toured bands with such as Calexico and Iron and Wine.