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Home > Atlanta Music Scene > Archives > 2008 > March > 14
Friday, March 14, 2008
Friday at South by Southwest in Austin
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Whigs rip it up at Paste’s afternoon party Friday at Volume.
Los Campesinos at Filter magazine’s Showdown at Cedar Stret Courtyard Friday afternoon.
Friday was a gorgeous day in Austin, but the bounty of live music on offer at the South by Southwest Music Festival was enough to draw even the most diehard sun-worshipper into dark bars.
A pair of magazines offered some of the best reasons to see some live music in the afternoon.
First, the Filter magazine party at Cedar Street Courtyard hosted Swedish combo the Shout Out Louds. Lucky for the outdoor lovers, this show took place outside, giving listeners a choice between sun and shade.
Take the gloom and doom out of the Cure and amp up the pop catchiness and you’d have the Shout Out Louds. If “Friday, I’m in Love” and “Just Like Heaven” are on heavy rotation in your playlist, you should check this band out pronto. The chaotic playground punk of Wales’ Los Campesinos followed, after many equipment-related delays. The joyous cacophony was worth the wait. “It’s never, ever, ever this hot,” said keyboardist Aleksandra - the band members all go by the first names followed by “Campesinos” - after bandmate Gareth told the crowd the group was from Cardiff in South Wales. Gareth removed his shirt in response. “This is to distract from our gear not working,” he said.
About eight blocks away, Decatur-based Paste magazine was co-sponsoring another winning line-up. Atlanta native Kaki King, Canada’s the Weakerthans, New Zealander Liam Finn and Athens’ the Whigs all took the stage Friday afternoon at Volume. The Whigs, with a demanding schedule that included a white-hot set at the Austin Music Hall on Thursday night, ripped the place apart again. Incredible performances just seem to come naturally to these guys. Thursday it was the cavernous Music Hall, Friday the more intimate Volume club. It doesn’t matter how big or small the venue, this band seems to deliver a ferocious set of ear-catching, no-frills rock every time.
On the patio out back at Volume, I ran into Lenny Kuff, 23, a fairly new Austin resident who was experiencing his second South by Southwest music week. The town’s music scene was one of the things that made him want to move to the Texas capital. When he got a job offer after graduating from the University of Wisconsin, he jumped at the chance to come to Austin and moved here last June.
Kuff was making his way from day party to day party, most of them free. Earlier in the afternoon at J. Black’s Feel Good Lounge, just up 6th Street from Volume, he’d spotted Ludacris. “He was chillin’ out with his entourage, drinking Mexican Martinis,” Kuff says. “I thought that people would be harassing him, but they were all pretty chill.”
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Bow Wow Celebrating The Big 2-1
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sigh. It seems like only yesterday that a young Atlanta rapper-actor named Lil Bow Wow was blowing out the candles on his 16th birthday cake at Cascade Skate Center. (See top pic. “Ahhhh,” if you like.)
Now the Lil is gone. The youngest solo rapper to reach No. 1 on the U.S. charts has made BIG bucks in the movies (“Roll Bounce,” “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift”); shown off his Atlanta and Miami homes - and luxury automobiles - on “MTV’s Cribs”; and this weekend he’s celebrating his official entrance into adulthood.
And what better place is there to turn legal than in sin city itself?!
That’s right, the artist born Shad Moss (in a more recent picture, below) is having a 21st birthday celebration Saturday in Las Vegas; (though he was actually born March 9). And where Atlanta music mogul Jermaine Dupri, NBA legend Magic Johnson and fellow pin-up Mario attended the 16th fete, this time around Bow Wow’s guest list is filled out by more of the female variety. Melody Thornton of the Pussycat Dolls is among those expected; plus fellow Atlantan T-Pain is scheduled to perform and Swizz Beatz will be on the turntables.
Have a birthday wish or greeting for Bow Wow? And what else do you think this young millionaire could want?
Zac Brown Band plays South by Southwest
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta’s Zac Brown Band (Brown is in the center) performing at Austin’s Club De Ville on Thursday night.
Until you actually see Atlanta’s Zac Brown Band perform, you might think this powerhouse country-rock quintet would need a partisan crowd to generate audience excitement. After all, these guys have built a dedicated and fervent fan base in the Southeast, but haven’t ventured as far west as Austin very often.
It turns out that Brown and his band can turn just about any crowd into loyal followers. At Austin’s Club De Ville on Thursday night, they did just that. His hardcore fans already know it, but it shouldn’t be long before the rest of the world realizes that Brown is a star.
The band got a late start because of delays earlier in the night, but it was worth sticking around well past midnight to see Brown and company work their magic. And that magic was everywhere. It was in Brown’s clear, pure voice. It was in his heartfelt songs. It was in the lush vocal harmonies. It was in the musicians’ stunning instrumental skill. It was in “Chicken Fried,” their joyous celebration of all things good.
The way Brown inserted part of Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic” into the middle of his own beautiful “Free.” was more than magical. At that moment, it was hard to imagine anyone, aside from Morrison himself, has ever done a better version. It was downright supernatural.
