[San Diego] The doorman acted like it pained him to look at my ID, let alone look at me. The bar staff ignored me for ten minutes, even though the place was practically empty. The band was delayed because the sound was screwed up and water was leaking on them. Even if their faces had that this-venue-is-going-to-ruin-our-SXSW-set look on their faces, they remained polite. And once they started, it was as if they had ran on stage to a clapping audience of 1000. (It was an audience of about 10, and most of them were looking into their beers instead of at the band.) They’re a guy on bass, a guy on guitar singing, and a girl on drums. The guy on guitar flails around ‘schizophrenically’ – it’s a little silly but you’ve gotta to do what you’ve gotta to do. They’re loud bluesy rock. I liked them, as people really, and think they’re a cute little band with a lot of heart. Jackalope had good bands slotted for the entire day which I vetoed because of their shitty attitudes – take that Jackalope.

[Los Angeles, CA] She was late – which I will never get over being annoyed with, even if it’s something musicians have to do be proper musicians. More annoying, she spent 20 minutes haggling with the sound guy in a pretty decrepit venue with an audience of 15. Primadonna. To confirm this impression, once she had started, she would call out smokers in the audience and stare at them until they obeyed her and put the cigarette out. I understand that after years of being a rocker you’d want to preserve your lungs but her method of making a smoke-free environment happen was distracting and annoying. The sound guy (we were all interacting – it’s a small place) was really enthusiastic about her – telling me Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac) requested her presence on a tour. I was doubtful, given the crowd and the club, but he was right. She was an extremely talented guitarist with a good voice. A professional, no doubt annoyed that she’s playing clubs like this now. She definitely had something of a Fleetwood Mac sound, some Heart, and a lot of Sheryl Crow. Despite all of her talent, she was kind of boring. There was just nothing new about her. It’s not fair that proficiency isn’t enough but that’s the nature of art.

Latino in a ponytail, beard, and pearl snap button shirt singing and on electric guitarist. Latina in a miniskirt, traditional Mexican peasant top, and bedazzled sunglasses on bass guitar. Very pretty black boy in dreads on drums. Very pale white guy with shoulder length curls & sunglasses on keyboards. In other words, a Houston band. They bill themselves as an amalgam of ten different genres but they’re really pretty straightforward Texas blues. Technically, I’m not a fan of the genre (too much guitar and unnecessary slickness) but they did it well. The lead singer was appealing with pantomimes of ecstasy and pain, and a classic-rock butter-smooth voice. They had a big sound. Did do one jazzy keyboard song and a slower psychier song. They’re a quality band.

This band looked like your typical low-key rockabilly band except for the guy with a pleasingly sleazy 70s look (he turned out to be visiting from Austin). Nick Gaitan was on the upright bass, because Nick Gaitan is in every band in this town. Rockboy was overcome with joy when they launched into classic rockabilly (Setzer-esque, Reverend Horton Heat-esque), but was in the depths when they strayed into a more straightforward rock n roll sound. It was nearly southern rock. Some blues too. The bass was a beautiful looking instrument. As he does at many shows, Rockboy spent most of the time grumbling because they weren’t playing rockabilly and trying to determine whether the guitar was a Gretsch (per Rockboy, it was a guitar that sounds like a Gretsch but looks like a Gibson Les Paul – it was unclear to me why this was important information). Some bands can pull off a lack of identity, but this band didn’t.

The lead singer of this band turned out to be the young investment-banker-looking guy in a Hawaiian shirt who had been standing next to us the whole time, way in the way back of the room (because we were exhausted). Someone might have actually told us he was an investment banker. He was from Chicago and traveled purportedly on the basis of his great voice. He was backed by the bassist, drummer and guitarist of The Don Juans. For a man hailing from Chicago and singing the blues, he was a major disappointment. His look didn’t inspire blues confidence, and his voice lacked depth and interest. He did play a harmonica. Maybe it was the venue’s sound. The sound swung from being fine to being shockingly bad – the screeching nearly drove me outside during the DJs-spinning-records-between-sets portion of the evening. This is when I decided that the Houston and Austin Continental Clubs had to have different managers. The old very Texan couple next to us whom we befriended, or rather who befriended us, proudly informed us that they were great friends with Mr. Chicago and that the guitarist was from Holland. The one standout in the group was Mossimo/Jerry on piano, of Austin fame – he is a dynamo. As the show progressed, Rockboy took another quick nap, and the Texan man next to us leaned back and said in a booming voice, “Man, I’m already ½ shitfaced!”

[Portland, OR] I didn’t want to like this guy because he had a stereotypical tall hat on – very Portland. And because he sounded like Tom Waits, whom I really really dislike. And because he passed out a card proclaiming himself as a steampunk Professor Gall: alternative just like all the other alternative kids. But I liked him in the end. He demonstrated why average singer/songwriters are so mind-numbingly boring. His voice was dynamic and interesting, as was his music. He played a guitar and stomped on a mic’ed box. His lyrics were also smart and interesting. He confirmed the winning of the crowd by leaping on the bar and stalking back and forth for his last song – I felt sort of sorry for him that he felt he had to work that hard to grab the interest of the people. Interestingly, the guy next to us at the bar was a friend of his from many years back – they’d roomed together in Portland but bar guy now lived in Denver. They were metalheads back then

[Abilene, KS] This band was fantastic, outside of the growl vocals. The guys were absolute stoner metalheads, masked in their hair. The music was special though – they managed to blend a lot of groove and blues into their hardcore-ness. They also sell some sort of hot sauce.

he was terrific – played a resonator and an acoustic guitar – extremely talented: fingering, slide, stops, taps, you name it – heading toward being a one man band – also had a great voice, a sweet (Jeff B) but hearty-throaty blues voice – he feels the music and it shows in his performance – he did covers by blues greats: Howlin’ Wolf, Robert Johnson – this boy could go places – just realized he’s my pharmacist as well ha

you’d think this was exactly what we were just seeing (Linnza Zaorski), i.e., another retro girl with a backing band, but the sound was pretty different – this band had a lot more brass and wasn’t as easy breezy – this girl was older and harder – she was fine but didn’t particularly stand out to me – this was where we ran into scary people from the swing dancing convention that was meeting in New Orleans during the French Quarter Festival

Rockboy has had her music for a while and was Very eager to see her – it was clear why once we arrived – she’s a hottie – she was charming old men, young men, girls and even dogs passing by – she sings in that nasally sweetie girl voice from the 20s/40s – there is no doubt that she was entrancing – the whole band seemed a little stoned – outside of her voice, the vibe of the band was very smoky-coffee-shop – after Rockboy told me how she passed out in the bathroom midset during a show in Austin, I spent the show pondering the plights of being Linnzi Zaorski…

that big-sound bluesy rocking jazz – reminded me of the Sex and the City episode with the “I Can’t Get Next to You” song – it just bugs me

a bunch of brown-clothed hobo-looking kids playing old time jazz blues – turned out they had a ‘showcase’ show for the Fest sometime later – lots of brass and a dancing girl but the kid on a washboard with a tilted cap was the best

this was Waterloo’s first in-store in the parking lot EVER… or so I thought… a regular insisted it had happened before – oh, was it grand – people as far as the eye could see – and people of all sorts: high school kids smoking pot out of a little ceramic cigarette in front of us (I almost took the sweet little girl heading down the bad path in her NIN t-shirt aside to tell her not to let those boys convince her to do what she didn’t want to) – Raoul Hernandez of the Chronicle to our left, being schmoozed – the beautiful dregs of Austin came out for this free show – we’d seen the band and remembered them as a Black Sabbath cover band with original songs – and, Waterloo did pipe Black Sabbath through the speakers the entire time we waited for the band, but the band actually has a bit more speed metal in them than Black Sabbath – they’re a good show but not sure how much I’d listen to them recorded – on the other hand, the fans lined up, albums in hand, and Waterloo Records was once again saved, at least for now

one-man band type blues singer with the sort of voice people refer to as “Pretty good for a white guy!” – the bartender with the Rob Halford tattoo definitely thought he was better than good, delivering shots and being his one-woman promoter- Rockboy liked him better than I did but I was excited to see that the man accompanying him on harmonica was the very odd and large doorman from Side Bar who will break into Italian ballads without reason – comparable to R.L. Burnside, which is a good thing

Cyndi Lauper put together a blues band for her tour and stuck to all but a handful of new songs on the setlist. She was fiery onstage (even with the choice of toxic-red wig) and she was clearly enjoying herself.

The opener Just Your Fool was a good example of why Lauper is a fuckin’ pop star no matter what she’s singing. It was a barn burner. The best tracks from the new album, Memphis Blues, shone onstage when they allowed her to use her vocal range. Down so Low and Don’t Cry No More were the best examples, uplifting anthems as powerful as anything from her past catalog.

The show was divided into an hour long set of songs from her blues album, closing with the non-album track Wild Women Don’t Get the Blues (available on digital editions). The second set was a mere five songs deep, but she delivered them with a blues-touch and jammed out for a full forty minutes. Starting with the weepy ballad Who Let in the Rain and then leading into Change of Heart, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, and Time After Time, that was it for a run-through of the hits. The songs were fantastic, given a blues treatment and transformed into sing-a-long crowd-pleasing extended jams.

For one last song, she emerged on stage with just her guitarist for a tearful take on True Colors wrapped in a bit of John Lennon’s Power to the People.

Cyndi Lauper setlist
Just Your Fool
Shattered Dreams
Early in the Mornin’
Romance In The Dark
How Blue Can You Get?
Down Don’t Bother Me
Down So Low
Rollin’ and Tumblin’
Wild Woman Don’t Get The Blues
Break
Who Let The Rain In
Change Of Heart
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Time After Time
Don’t Cry No More
Encore
True Colors

[Louisiana - he might not live there now but he is forever Louisiana] Oh Jerry – he was the point of this whole weekend (for some of us) – sure I know his hits, but he was never momentous to me – I appreciate his music though and I appreciate his style, especially after weeks of tutelage in his finer moments – so I\”m all amped up to see this wild-haired, piano-bench-thrusting guy who made 50s kids writhe like they were possessed, and I\”m even prepared for the fact that he has aged since those days, but I wasn\”t quite prepared to see a hunch-backed old man helped out onto the stage to sit on his piano bench, where he sat stiffly for the remainder of the show – a lesson in mortality, my friends: age will seriously tame even the wildest of us – where\”s his 13-year-old cousin now? – anyway, he actually put on a great show – he can still sing and he can still play – the piano honestly sounded a little muddy to me at times, but I\”m not sure I\”ve ever seen piano, boogie piano at least, live and maybe that\”s just the way it sounds – by the late-middle of the show, he was cracking jokes with the audience and telling some rowdy little jokes and it\”s clear he\”s a man who has enjoyed his time in a serious way – despite that, he has been described as worrying more than other sinners over his post-death fate, what with his fundamentalist religious beginnings (and continuings possibly) which is a pretty fascinating way to have endured through life

[Stockholm, Sweden] out of all of the many female-vocalist semi-retro bands we saw (thanks to the Rockboy), this was my favorite – Miss Li had a genuine edge and sang creatively and enthusiastically while pounding on her little keyboard – she didn\”t seem like she was acting but like she was really just that passionate and that much fun – they\”re really less retro revival and more indie pop inspired by retro jazz and blues – she was backed by a guitar, drums, a sax (I think?) and an upright bass, but we particularly enjoyed the two very Swedish looking gents – oddly, we\”d tried to see her earlier at an outside stage, even willing to brave ridiculous 40 degree weather, and been told she\”d gone home due to the weather

[Durham, NC] a top show – their album is called “Genuine Negro Jigs” and that’s a pretty perfect description – this show was being broadcast live over a radio station in Chicago – the formal setting of chairs and big cameras and big lights might have made them uncomfortable because all three sat stiff and unsmiling while they were waiting to play – they came alive with a vengeance once they started to play, adding dancing and facial expressions and stories to the music – ended up being an incredibly charismatic band – in addition to encompassing all artistic aspects of the music, they embrace it anthropologically, which is transmitted to the crowd with little spoken bits in between each song – they alternated through finger clackers, dobros, banjos, fiddles, a jug and a kazoo – they encouraged the audience to sing along to their first song “Don”t Get Troubled in Your Mind” – they got their next song “Georgia Buck” from Joe Thompson, an old guy who taught them a lot of what they know – they switched into early jazz with Papa Charlie Jackson’s “Your Baby Ain’t Sweet Like Mine” – highlights: 1) “the jug solo” as Rockboy called it, 2) Rhiannon’s barefoot tap-style dancing, and 3) realizing the kazoo is responsible for that wacky old-timey vaudeville sound

[Los Angeles, CA] I wanted to see this band because the homecoming (prom?) king of my 5000-person high school is in it but Rockboy had actually listed them as someone he wanted to see through his SXSW research – hard blues rock with garage swagger – vocals and lyrics are genuinely blues inspired – something like The Black Keys, which is a very good thing as far as I\”m concerned

Although it was the first time in some ten years that both primary contributors to Concert Central were actually at a concert together, we only saw a couple of songs. But the band still managed to make their goodness clear. A rootsy indie sound and fronted by a very lovely young girl with a great voice. Originally from Alabama but now in Austin

a lot of prep work went into this show: discussion, watching of the biography, etc. and it made it all the more exciting to see the actual 77-year-old man walking down the little aisle – the charm that won him 5 (plus?) wives is still apparent – he just opens his mouth and amusing folksy tales pour out, that’s his “ramblin’” part – the names of celebrity pals were dropped left and right (Kris Kristofferson, Woody Guthrie, etc.) – he’s a good guitarist, trained by Woody Guthrie and acting as mentor to Bob Dylan eventually, as informed by the movie – he doesn’t write too many of his songs and talked about the person who wrote each song before playing it – style ranged from bluesy to Guthrie-esque to Townes-esque folk-country – overly-delighted fawning middle-aged crowd that is typical to the Cactus Cafe – the downside was that Jack was struck with allergies or a cold and his voice kept getting scruffy to the point that he eventually cut his second set short – his first set wasn’t even that long -RamblinBoy reported that he actually played more songs than what he did in Marfa the weekend before possibly because he didn’t have enough of a voice to chat too much – we got to talk to him on the way out after waiting out a very old hippie who actually had a twig sticking out of his hair

the band was not the point, unremarkable blues band – all white, bassist was a young female which was nice, the point was the place! which was remarkable: 60-year-old shack of a bar that offered free chili and free condoms at the bar, no AC, a miniscule dance floor, and the best part was that there were whites and blacks and browns and rich and poor all co-mingling but – it was clear – it’s heading for gentrification and I contributed to that last night – my own personal Black Snake Moan episode, sweat and all

an accessible mix of post-punk, blues rock, glam, and punk n roll sounds but in reality proto-punk which makes them even more amazing: the sounds are rightfully theirs – basically a genuine classic old-school rock band insofar as the music, the talent, the stage presence and the look, especially Mick-Jagger’s-doppelganger David Johansen singing in his frilly shirt – only other original member of the band was Sylvain Sylvain in a little salmon-colored beret (he charmingly joined Black Joe on stage) – my favorite might have been the heavily eyelinered goth-esque guy on bass guitar who was wearing an incongruent pinstriped shirt and black vest and baseball cap (?) – enjoyed the lack of pretension and posturing – “Stranded in the Jungle,” “Personality Crisis,” original version of “Trash” followed by a reggae version of it

may be the most professional slick band I\”ve seen in Austin, and while that usually annoys me, it suits their music – they\”re local but touring in support of the New York Dolls – lots of soul, some wah-wah 70s funk and then some Chicago blues – a brass section of saxes and a trumpet, two guitars, drums, etc. etc. – whole assemble was having a good time – Joe Lewis\” voice isn\”t remarkable but he has a pleasing innocent fun demeanor on stage – he supposedly started as a blues singer in Austin with the likes of Scott H. Biram but found his success with the addition of the Honeybears

We’re all bickering on a hot street: WomanInCharge on crutches and no cabs in sight. Two of us head off towards busier corners to find a taxi when what to our wondering eyes should appear, but an oddly shaped taxicab coming so near. We whooped, climbed in and shortly realized that this was no normal taxi. It was shaped like a big box, had a stripper’s pole and fluorescent lighting. Even better, there was an interactive jukebox-style touch screen with a wealth of music videos from the 70s to 00s to choose from. 3 to 4 TV screens allowed a clear view for every passenger. The kind of random magic that only happens during SXSW or anytime of the year for the lucky few who know to call 512-626-TAXI.

First SXSW show of the year !!!!!! – (although this was a daytime in-store and he isn’t even here for an official SXSW showcase) – the crowd was already delicious and probably exactly what Austinites hate (why? why?): vain self-aware rocker dudes, serious Europeans with totes and badges and indecipherable conversations, and (at least at this old Austin record store) some old drink-weary hillbillies throwing “y’alls” all over the place – 10:1 male:female ratio and free homemade gumbo, cheap sodas and finally Shiner – I, not having adapted yet to music-time, was annoyed that the show was some 40 minutes late – but all was okay when I caught sight of a shrunken ancient black man with round cheeks and a big white smile (surely false teeth) being led in by a biker-punk and a shaggy-Comets-on-Fire- t-shirt guy -he circled the entire cramped store and shook people’s hands – he sat down, tuned his guitar that had tacky stickers spelling out “T-Model Ford The Taildragger,” smiled big and said “It’s Jack Daniels time!” – whiskey was produced from somewhere, he took a little swig and started playing – he’s just the real deal – I discovered him on my internet radio stations and took note because I was always pleasantly struck by his sound – Delta blues roots but all electrified up and fast – approximates Scott Biram, Possessed by Paul James, etc. but is their forefather in reality – he wasn’t so fast today and eventually said his fingers were stiff – he’s 88 and playing another gig tonight at Emo’s! – he finished his first song and drawled, “It’s Jack Daniels time” – he flirted with the girls in the front row – he had a trick of making his blues-par-excellence voice drop into a quick growl and then could make it swoop up into a tenorous “whoooo – eee” – he was darling and not just in the way old men can be to younger girls

I am embarrassed that I enjoy this band so much what with their unfair use of everything good in rock and roll: heavy bass lines, groovy blues licks, funky pick-ups, but to their redemption, they\”ve also got talent, soul, authenticity, and diversity. At previous shows, they\”d been more about the tight hopped-up songs (which they still did), but tonight there was only three band members (lead guitar, pedal steel and drums) and they did some extended intense jams as well as some lighter country numbers (Moonhanger songs?), with both guitarists exchanging vocalizing duties. I like Chili Cold Blood, I cannot lie.

I haven’t stopped giggling at this band yet. They fit (almost) every caricature of an 80s ‘heavy’ metal band. CAUTIONARY: This may be more a reflection of my age and personal bias than the actual quality of this band. Drummer with a red bandana singing in a quasi-screamo but totally 80s metal growl. They’re basically a hard rock, driving hard, metal-hard, with touches of Lynyrd Skynyrd and some real blues grooves. While the guitarist in the camouflage baseball cap was incongruous and cute, the bassist member was Will-Ferrell-as-a-metal-head incarnate, with the grandiose swagger and smirks and an upswung arm in some pagan salute at the end of each song, plus a cheesy haircut and goatee to boot. They were old (mid-40s) and the crowd was too. The girls, sorry women, were embarrassing me and should have been embarrassing themselves with their obvious efforts at behaving like metal groupies… at the age of 47… Oh! And there were some devil horns thrown too!

uhhh… Chili Cold Blood. Spot on. But a lot slicker and so less appealing, at least to me. They were grinding electric blues with a touch of metal and some harmonica. Sexy boys with sexy guitars. An emo-looking boy sang and performed a blues storm with his slide. The crowd was somewhat cold to them – maybe they were inauthentic (in their contrived get-ups) or maybe the crowd was hipster snooty. Their sound was polished and full, their instruments were glossy and gorgeous, and as much as all of this was good, I got the impression that they were privileged and totally out of touch with what the blues is about.

so silly I couldn’t stop the smirk and I don’t mean that politely, the crowd was peeing all over themselves, apparently this band’s hype precedes its arrival – some sort of political repression legend based on their Israelian origins and the fact that a few places haven’t allowed them to perform (though they’ve managed to rack up some 300 shows of late despite this), there is nothing political in their message, in fact their lack of message was complemented by a lack of music, there was some sort of something going on with sounds though the only band member you could pick out (what with the 40 drooling boys swaying ON the stage) was the lead singer in his jockey shorts hanging from a tree near the stage – I think the drummer was up there for a while too, this is a band for people who have a need to belong to something – to get caught up in the fervor and collectivity of – something, anything

was initially entranced because they were dead-on Reigning Sound, then I became distracted by the lead singer’s ZZ Top beard and black sunglasses, then I realized that they were the most soulless band I have seen since I don’t remember – I can’t quite pin down the exact origin of their peculiar void of energy though it did remind me of Yo La Tengo when they’re trying to pretend like they don’t give a shit – I fear this is one more indicator of the decline of Emo’s (all of their fabulous bartenders have defected, rumors are afloat of problems about unions, it’s all very worrisome)

the high quality of their sound was immediately apparent – rich and full despite it being an acoustic show, I take note of them because of the distinctive voice but that actually became annoying – seemed contrived – he does have a good voice but could change up on its nasally execution every now and then, very attractive band – appear serious and smart, did a short set of only three songs but with a wide range of sounds from psychy indie rock to hoppy dance hit “Something Is Not Right With Me” in which the drummer continued to play drums with his left hand while shaking the shaker with his right hand¦ which was terribly impressive to me