MUSIC: SXSW 2009

None of my bands played South By Southwest this year, but Euclid Records was asked to participate in the Austin Record Convention (which was part of SXSW 2009), so I headed down to Austin with Euclid owner Joe Schwab to help man the store's booth. Though we didn't have wristbands, we still managed to see a lot of great music and had a great time as well as a successful record show.

We hit town on Wednesday and headed straight to the Pop Culture Press party in time for a fantastic set by Future Clouds And Radar. They were augmented by a guest trumpet player and were very well received by the large crowd. This was the fourth great Future Clouds show Joe and I have seen this year, and they are clearly one of the best live bands in the world today.






























































Next up was the reformed That Petrol Emotion. I’ve always loved the band and their sharp Undertones meets Captain Beefheart pop, but never had the chance to see them live back in their day, so I was pretty excited. They did not disappoint. Opening with their anthem “Hey Venus,” the band took off like a comet and never came back down to earth. Led by super energetic front man Steve Mack, their propulsive set was the best thing I saw all week at SXSW. I hope TPE are back to stay for a while, cause the world needs rock bands this great.















































Later that night we caught longtime personal faves Outrageous Cherry.








Thursday was a big day because I finally got to see Cyril Jordan’s great band Magic Christian. I've been on their bandwagon from day one, and since they never play the Midwest, my only chances to see them live have been at SXSW. But the past couple of times I’ve been down there I had schedule conflicts at the times they were playing. But not this year! I got to see them two gorgeous afternoons in a row on the cool little patio of the Gingerman pub, and they are the consummate kick ass live band! Day one saw former Blondie guitarist Frank Infante sitting in on Shake Some Action, and day two found Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream standing on my immediate left---an obvious Magic Christian fan who rocked out the entire show. And frontman Paul Kopf stuck his mic in Joe’s face and had him sing a line of Shake Some Action! Something Joe will no doubt tell his grandchildren someday…

It’s really hard for me to put into words just how much Cyril’s music has meant to me over the years and the profound effect it has had on my life in so many ways. Needless to say it was an honor and pleasure to finally meet him. We got to hang for a bit on both days and he is beyond cool. I got to tell Cyril how much the Shake Some Action album forever changed my life in 1976 and how I would have never had the courage to try to actually play in a band if it had not been for that record. He seemed genuinely touched. We also chatted about our mutual love for The Easybeats. It’s so great when your idols turn out to be cool people. And Mr. Kopf is very cool as well and quite the rock and roll character! So now my next Magic Christian mission is to see them tear it up in a small club, as they do in these great live videos here and here.



















































































































Happy hour at Lucky’s with the greatest happy hour band in the world, Ian McLagan & The Bump Band.








We spent Friday afternoon at the Little Steven’s Underground Garage party at Antones, which was major bang for the buck as Steven presided as master of ceremonies over an impressive variety of acts presented old school “cavalcade of stars” style.

Little Steven













The legendary Augie Meyers, sitting in with the Krayolas.














Great young garage/r&b band from Denmark, The Breakers.











The one and only Roy Head, bringing down the house with "Treat Her Right."











Modesty Blaze of Oslo's Cocktail Slippers. Can she pass for Susannah Hoffs' daughter or what?









The Living Things



















Eternal gods of the garage, the mighty Chesterfield Kings.




















































The big "secret" Metallica show at Stubb's. Don't ask...










Would have loved to have seen The Sonics, Primal Scream, The Dogs, The High Dials, The New York Dolls, Jimmy Webb & Sons, Sally Crewe & The Sudden Moves, and so many more, but that's the way the SXSW cookie crumbles. Saturday and Sunday were record show days, and as stated earlier, we had an outstanding show. On Sunday, just as the show was getting ready to close down, we were paid a visit by blissed out rock legend Sky Saxon of Seeds fame.

Joe and Sky.













Sky and me.