I've always felt a little "safe" in my fashion choices, it's true. Cute, but...safe. I will take one risk and wear it to death, as evidenced by yesterday morning. I began putting on shorts and tights for roughly the two thousandth time and thought, "this has got to stop." Something new is in order. A wholesale change.
Whenever I get to feeling this way, I look at people with styles I admire. My friend Sarah is one such person, and - dare I say it? - Nicole Richie is another. Don't even front y'all. You and I both know how good she looks.
So in lieu of an Austin-y or musical post this morning, I feel like looking at pictures with a very articulated vintage style, to hopefully get my groove back. Even more so than how Stella got her groove back.
I love this guy.
And this woman.
These gorgeous photographs comes from the eyes and hands of Courtney Brooke. She doesn't live in Austin, but I wish she did.
Now that I'm all caught up on sleep, and have established normal lifestyle patterns again - eating breakfast, for example - I've come to regard SXSW as an alternate universe. Isn't that exactly how it feels? If you immerse yourself in it?
I want to thank regular readers of this blog for allowing Austin Eavesdropper to temporarily become a SXSW blog. GARY! and I are finishing our recaps today and tomorrow, and then will return to our regular programming of...well we're not sure really, but we'll think of something! (Outfits / Austin fun / psycho cats).
This year, my personal SXSW experience was enhanced by select doses of funk and soul. Casxio is one, Mayer Hawthorne is another, and interestingly enough, both acts are from Los Angeles. Somethin' funky in the water, Angelinos?
Below, GARY!'s video of Mayer Hawthorn at the Fader Fort party, leading off with a song cover that EVERY child of the '80s will remember.
Some of you may have heard about "Hexadecagon," the multi-media show local faves Octopus Project put on at Whole Foods during SXSW.
I've seen lots of bands utilize projected visuals in their shows lately - Broken Bells, Ratatat. But Octopus Project took this idea to a new level, as GARY!'s videos attest. For one, the projections were a 360 degree affair, literally surrounding you with surreal images both playful and haunting. And secondly, this show happened off the beaten path of South By, in a tent erected inside the parking lot of Whole Foods. I like that, because while many bands are content to play in such nonconventional venues as unused portions of crosswalk during SXSW, it typically happens within a 20 block radius, stretching from 4th to 12th Streets, contained by Red River to roughly Colorado. Or so. Hexadecagon was a three months-in-the-making project, with a deliberately different setting, for a crowd who had planned well in advance to get there and get there early.
In other words: Away from the riff-raff.
GARY! shot six videos of the party, which is a lot, but TOTALLY WORTH IT to watch all of them. (Fun fact: the projected videos used at Hexadecagon were shot and edited by Austin’s own Wiley Wiggins, whom you may know as Mitch Kramer from Dazed and Confused.)
In the video below (says GARY!), Yvonne Lambert proves she's a master of the Theremin, in a performance being hailed as one of the top 5 performances of SXSW 2010 by USA Today.
Finally, here are some of my favorite Hexadecagon images, shot by Happy Mercado.
So I'm a little short on time today, but I wanted to make sure people new about a little local show our friends at the Mohawk are hosting tonight. If you don’t have plans swing on by for Stereo is a Lie, Love at 20, The Burning Hotels, and the Team Fabrication DJ's. Cover is only $6.
I am honestly am not too familiar with Stereo is a Lie, but I’ve been told by the ever reliable Jennifer Leduc that they will indeed be rocking my socks off. So I'm pretty sure you can take that to the bank.
(As a bonus you can actually download all of Love at 20’s new album here.)
That’s all I got, and maybe I’ll see ya at the Hawk--
She & Him's music, as no doubt a lot of you know, is kind of Loretta Lynn-meets-60s California. I have always been intrigued by Zooey Deschanel's vintage sensibilities in general - style, music, etc. - so it was a treat to see her and M. Ward for the first time. I was surprised by how shy she is on stage! But I guess when you are movie star famous, and people are freaking out right there in front of you, it might be a little weird.
Even though Kerissa and I were able to get close to the stage, my photos from the night are que horrible! So, here are some good ones from Rolling Blackouts.
Fact: Whenever I see my pale, oh-so-pale legs in pictures, I recoil a little bit.
"Yikes," I think. "This pallor, it is frightening---! Sickly! WHY AM I WEARING SHORTS!"
Fact: I also think this is bullshit.
Because see, here's the thing kittens. Being pale is awesome. Three of my best friends happen to be Phillipine, Phillipine, and Italian, so I am frequently surrounded by naturally golden-hued ladies. Which is awesome, too.
But if there's anything that pop culture vampires have taught us, it's that a ghostly pale complexion is nothing to fear. Unless you fear being seduced by raw, concentrated sexiness!
Growing up in suburban San Antonio, Texas, I was taught that pale-ness was to be avoided at all costs, as if it were actually a real illness. Now I know better. Now I am embracing pale.
So there I was, trekking down east 6th St. Friday. The third day into SXSW Music. I had parked my car somewhere between I-35 and Egypt, and was just starting to make it to the mainland. By which I mean, the point on e. 6th where you can begin to see things like the capitol, or, the curve of the earth.
Just outside Shangri-La, I heard a big funky bass. Accompanied by the sung words, "I JUST WANNA HAVE SEX WITH YOU." I thought: "I will check this out."
The band was Casxio, and they are officially my favorite accidental discovery of SXSW. I stumbled upon lots of bands last week that I hadn't heard of before, but this time, I stayed for the entire set. Here are some pictures from that show.
I successfully turned GARY! and Sweet Leaf's Happy Mercado into groupies too, so they joined me at the Knuckle Rumbler SXSW Lounge on Saturday to check them out. Here are some to-die photos that Happy took.
Casxio is from Los Angeles, and their sound is falsetto-laden funk, with touches of Mika (says GARY!) and Scissor Sisters (says me). It is instant dance party, and makes me want to wear sequins. They kindly toted along SXSW sampler CDs, so of course I snatched one!
Pictures fail to fully give justice to what amazing performers the Casxio members are. GARY! caught both "Seventeen" and their cover of Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares" at the Knuckle Rumbler Lounge on video. The pipes on Lucas, the frontman, are RIDICULOUS.
(Pause: how cute is Andrea, the keyboard player, with the shoulder shimmies?)
Lastly. As evidenced by my own blog profile, I am kind of a sucker for drag. My father went on one of his first dates with my mom dressed in drag (true story), I dressed up as Rodney Dangerfield for Halloween one year, followed by K-Fed....anyway. Here is Casxio's music video for "Seventeen," for which I think we can all agree that Lucas makes a disturbingly beautiful woman.
Are you dying?
Eavesdropper readers, let's help make Casxio super rich and famous!
Ladies, do you remember being 11 years old, looking at all the cute boys in Bop or Tiger Beat, and being like, "omg, Jason Priestly! Luke Perry! MARK PAUL GOSSELAAR!!" and ripping out the poster inserts so you could put them on your wall? Gentlemen, did you do the same with Pam Anderson posters? (would not know since I'm not an icky boy)?
That's how I feel about SXSW. I fall in love with everybody a little bit, meaning, every band I see. I play it cool on the outside, but on the inside, I'm shrieking like a braceface 4th grader.
This is all to say that GARY! and I are going to attempt to recap SXSW 2010 in a calm, professional manner, but want to warn you right now that things might get gushy.
So last night at the Perez party. I saw two ladies who blew my mind: VV Brown and Marina and The Diamonds. Here are is a picture of VV.
PS: I am 5'2." Welcome to my life. Someday, when am famous music journalist, staring at other people's heads won't be a problem. In the meantime I have to violently elbow charm my way to the front.
VV Brown got the memo that sleeves are IN.
You know what else is in? Being dynamic on-stage. Girlfriend puts on a show. The best way I can describe VV's sound is Motown-meets-post-punk, all while donning a peacock mask. (Seriously. She was wearing a peacock mask at one point). The audacity of hope, indeed. I HOPE you are my BFF someday, VV Brown.
I'm going to stop talking and let you guys watch a video.
UPDATED: Here's VV Brown at the Perez party! GARY! shot this amazing video of her performance. Enjoy!
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