|
 What
does the South
By Southwest music festival
in Austin,
Texas, have to offer this year? Everything but snowfall,
my friends. With both
the film
and interactive trades providing financial and artistic lifelines
to an ever-changing music industry, SXSW 2000 is a virtual showcase
of human diversity in a new millennium. While record companies continue
to hustle
for control of the Internet and struggle with the implications
of digital
formats like MP3, there are still countless musicians eager
to confront the public in the arena of live performance.
For more than a decade, musicians and industry representatives have
come together for a week of cathartic conventioneering in Austin.
Since it is the state capital and also home to the University
of Texas, you can be sure that Austin has plenty of places to
throw a party.
Whether it's an expansive beer garden, a cloistered dance club,
a converted theater, an outdoor venue, a formal music hall or just
a backyard barbecue, entertainment is going to run extremely thick
in the greater Austin area from March 15 through 19.
Clearly, the current surplus of talented artists and myriad musical
genres have found an annual home down here in the Lone Star State.
With billions of dollars being spent on entertainment by millions
of consumers all over the globe, finding a niche as a working musician
has never been more possible, or more complicated. A virtual microcosm
of the recording industry, SXSW offers a temporary haven to roots-rockers,
hip-hoppers, bar bands, singer-songwriters, urban bluesmen, modern
DJs, free-jazzers, country legends and punk-metal rejects--embracing
them all with equal enthusiasm.
While Austin's homegrown music community is always well-represented
in the festival's proceedings, there are artists making the trek
from such faraway places as Budapest, Tokyo, London, The Hague and
Madrid. Naturally, musical contingents from Nashville, Los Angeles,
New York and Chicago will be out in force as well as smaller regional
scenes from all across the nation. Also present and flexing their
industry muscles will be legions of music producers, club owners,
entertainment lawyers, journalists, publishers, public relations
representatives, media personalities, and record company executives.
Of course, a large group of people will attend SXSW simply because
they love music. If you're not interested in groups like Los
Lobos or keynote speaker Steve
Earle, just head down the street and check out the squealing
saxophone of Charles
Gayle or the psychedelic guitarismo of Bevis
Frond.
Where else but SXSW can you either catch a live interview with former
Led Zeppelin bassist John
Paul Jones or attend a seven-hour seminar on "Legal Issues in
the Music Industry"? Don't feel like listening to Cypress
Hill? Check out a panel on Woody Guthrie's Dustbowl Legacy.
Bottom line: too many shows, too little time. My own short list
includes the Meat
Puppets, John
Cale, Roger
McGuinn, The
Mekons, Shaver,
Nashville
Pussy, Hank
Williams III, Jimmy
LaFave, Elliot
Smith, Giant
Sand, the Radar
Brothers, A Tribute To Doug
Sahm, Gov't
Mule, Mocean
Worker, Don
Walser, Bernie
Worrell, Sex
Mob and the Legendary
Stardust Cowboy.
So, will you be attending the gala Austin
Music Awards or getting red-eyed with the boys down at a local
pub? The choice is yours, Bubba. Just get your ass down here pronto.
And be sure to check this page for daily SXSW updates from four
Newcity.com writers starting the afternoon of Thursday, March 16.
Why not sign
up for Newcity.com's new weekly music newsletter while you're
at it?
Mitch
Myers
Newcity.com
presents the latest word from SXSW:
AUSTIN ABRIDGED
A newbie's notes on South By Southwest
SOUTHWESTERLY WHIRLWIND
South by Southwest and all points and bands
in between
DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS
Despite hellacious setbacks, Doublewide kicks it up at SXSW
CRYSTAL BALL
SXSW predicts the future of rock 'n' roll:
guitars
MUSICAL MAYHEM
Tornadoes, hail and rain fail to dampen Austin's melodious music conference
DUSTY
BEATS
Electronic music in the house at SXSW
MOUTH
BY MOUTHWEST
Notable quotables from the big Austin shindig
MUSICAL
HURDLES
One writer navigates the Great Texan Rock 'n' Roll Obstacle Course
AUSTIN
IN THE REARVIEW
Sounding some final notes on SXSW 2000
JOURNEY
TO THE END OF THE NIGHT
Saturday night at SXSW means bigger crowds, but also better music
BYPASSING
THE INDUSTRY
SXSW is just one massive affirmation of the mutual love between musician and
fan
HONKY-TONK
CRUISE
If SXSW proves one thing, it's that the strangest people come up with the
best ideas
ROADSHOW
After an overdose of country, rock and country-rock, one SXSW listener finds
salvation in a cab driver's tape deck
EXPLORING
AMERICANA
From Woody Guthrie to Roger McGuinn, legends both living and dead create
joyful noise at SXSW 2000
FRIDAZED
Patti Smith can't start a revolution, but she and Alejandro Escovedo kick off
a wild night at SXSW 2000
AWESOME
ALEJANDRO
Just about every SXSW showcase looks bad compared to the lineup of Friday's
free concert at Waterloo Park
OUT
IN AUSTIN
It's a musical marriage as SXSW hosts a bizarre event billed as the first gay
wedding in Texas
SUNSET
CRUISE
Grooving with Los Lobos at the perfect SXSW
jam session
TEXAS
TWISTER
After dodging the tornado, it's easy to get
swept up in the SXSW vibe
IN
THE BAG
Drunk by noon and laden with gift bags, some
SXSW attendees have a hard time tuning into the actual music
COUNTRY
COUSINS
It's surreal--but fun--to see alt.country acts perform in a city where
country is the norm and everything else is the alternative
AUSTIN
POWERED
There's no limit to the fun on the "Austin
City Limits" soundstage as the 2000 SXSW Music Festival kicks off
with Patti Smith
SLOW
STARTER
Geez, only 157 bands performed on the first
night of SXSW. Maybe things will pick up this weekend.
WIDE
AWAKE
Kicking off a looong weekend without sleep at the big party called SXSW
REELING IN THE YEARS
Cinematic head trips abound at this year's SXSW Film Festival
CARS
& SPEED & FLIGHT
Director Monte Hellman discusses the tribute to his groundbreaking
countercultural work at the SXSW Film Festival
PLAYING
FOR THE PRIZE
Regional bands battle for Austin spots in
Showdown to South by Southwest contests
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