SXSW Day One: Absinthe to Auerbach

It’s official: This author loves absinthe. Or whatever it was
that they were serving at the Music Gym off 6th
Street that they were calling absinthe. Who
the hell cares? It was free and it opened our SXSW 2009 with a strange and
weird sensation in the facial area. Plus, it made spotting Joseph
Gordon-Levitt from Angels In The Outfield (left) all the more shocking.

Our night began in earnest at Mohawk, where we saw Houston’s
own resident soul spinner DJ Brett Koshkin throwing down slabs of funk. This
was at about 8 p.m., and dude was to be
DJ’ing all night long. He’s really doing God’s work, and he smells good too.

We then walked down Red River to
catch the Young Mammals bust out stuff from the new album Carrots. They were
bathed in a blue-ish glow and are starting to sound more like the Pixies as the
days go by to us.

A jaunt down to the Scoot Inn to see the Homopolice proved
to be a washout, as all we encountered was a lonely Chris Ryan sitting next to
the stage. Word has it that the rest of the Homo boys ran afoul of a few of the
hetero police in Bastrop who found
some illicit substances on them on their way in from Houston. In their stead,
Ryan put on a one-man noise show, showing off some of his new solo stuff.

We stopped by the Parish to gander Holly Golightly doing her
twee hot-mama country mash upstairs opening for the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach.

Dan Auerbach played a fiery set of tracks from his debut
solo record Keep It Hid, sounding like a metallicized Bo Diddley backed by The
Band circa The Last Waltz. Dude was on fire and it was glorious. My Morning
Jacket drummer Patrick Hallahan was seen on the bongos and maracas behind
Auerbach as well.