SXSW Friday: Dog and Duck, Emo's Annex and Habana Calle 6

My SXSW Friday kicked off with a continuation of the parking karma from Thursday night. I hit the Dog and Duck around noon for the Pop Culture Press party and scored an unmetered spot right around the corner. They were running a little late, so I found a few friends and settled in for The Figgs. I’d never seen or heard them before, but our bass player is a big fan, so I thought I’d check them out.
They were good stuff, catchy songs, great start to the day. I caught a few songs of Graham Parker before heading back to South Austin to pick up some sticks at Tommy’s Drum Shop on South Eighth.

I made it back up to Sixth Street to have lunch at Casino El Camino before checking out Bob Mould at Emo’s Annex. The traffic and parking were a nightmare at 2pm. I’d originally intended to use the Convention Center pay garage, but it was full and, since Sixth and portions of most of the
cross streets were already blocked off, Fifth Street was a parking lot. I watched one band play to an audience of no one in the lot where the old rehearsal complex and Sweatbox studio used to stand as I crawled down Fifth. I ended up crossing to the east side and heading north to 11th street to cross back into downtown and try the lot just south of Club DeVille. It’s usually a good place to go and relatively cheap. I soon learned that no parking lot is cheap during SXSW. Like many lots, they’d jacked the price
up to $10. When the attendant asked how late I’d be and I told him 2 or 3am, he jacked the price up to $20. Groaning, I bent over and gave him the $20. If only I’d had the change and patience to find a metered spot. The streets were chaos, but it was surprisingly subdued at Casino. I ordered my beloved Amarillo burger and sat down to watch Phantasm (a classic),

I headed back out around 4 to catch Bob Mould’s set in the same tent where I saw Unsane a couple of years ago at SXSW. Bob was solo acoustic for this set, belting out old and new songs with his usual energy. His set list included a new one from the upcoming album, “Hoover Dam”, “See a Little Light”, “Wishing Well”, “Favorite Thing”, “I Can’t Change Your Mind” and “Circles” from his last release among others. He made a joke about Elton John and “turn down the f’ing wind” when a breeze blew up during the set. I
had to leave before he finished so I could make the 6pm check-in for my showcase at Habana.

On my way to Habana from my car with my arms full of drum equipment, I passed These Arms Are Snakes, who I’d seen the night before at Lambert’s and loved. I was going to talk to them, but ran into Tony Pierce just as I was crossing 7th and lost them in the crowd. Tony was all over SXSW as usual and gave us a
plug on Austinist. It was his last day in Austin and he seemed sad to go.

Our showcase at Habana went well. We were the only band that wasn’t on Get Hip at the outside stage. I felt like I was playing at Red Rocks or something with the rock bordering the stage. I’d already seen or played with Ugly Beats and The Mullens. Breakup Society and Paul Collins Beat
were the poppier of the bands on the bill. I’ve loved the Cynics since first hearing their 1989 monster album, Rock N Roll, but never seen them live. The Ugly Beats backed the two original members, Greg Kostelich and Michael Kostelic. Since I spent the whole night there, I witnessed a parade of local and out-of-town musicians and caught a couple of new faces inside. At one point, I was talking with some friends, including Frank
from Big Balls, Austin’s own Bon Scott era AC/DC tribute band, plugging the free Mastodon show the following night. We were talking about my son’s enthusiasm for the band when I happened to turn around and see Brann Dailor, drummer from Mastodon, standing about ten feet away. My wife then informed
me that she’d noticed him and he’d been standing there for 15 or 20 minutes but that she didn’t realize who he was. I’m still wondering if he overheard us or not and what he was doing there. In my own little fantasy world, I’d like to think he heard us playing and just had to come check it out. Vic from Two Hoots and a Holler appeared during Paul Collins Beat, I’d seen him at Dog and Duck during Graham Parker earlier in the day. 3/5 of Sons of Hercules showed
up for a good portion of the showcase as well.

It was great being at a venue with more than one showcase. It was easy to move between the two and check out the bands. The find of the night was Mistress Stephanie and Her Melodic Cat. They’re a cross between Kraftwerk and Cabaret, which sounds weird, but works
really well, especially in a live setting. I don’t think they translate as well on the recordings that I heard, but I’d go see them again in a heartbeat. You should definitely check them out if you have the chance. They’re from Austin. The Yuppie Pricks reunited for SXSW and played in between Mistress Stephanie and The Clutters. I heard they were loud, loud, loud. I skipped the Woggles in favor of the The Cynics since I knew we’d be playing with them at Trophy’s on Saturday. I screwed up and forgot to bring my
camera to my own showcase, which I’m still regretting today. The crappy photo quality is courtesy of my Razr.

I met divebarwife from the Portland Metblog at the showcase as well. She was in town with her husband’s band, The Misfats, who played the tribute band showcase at Emo’s Sunday night. I was just too wiped to make it down there. Anybody else check it out?