We are now sitting on 11 days and counting until Rocks Off's home away from becomes a hotel room off 4th Street and our stomachs become lined with breakfast tacos and free beer. Officially, SXSW's music segment starts on March 17 and we are now standing down the barrel of the final weeks before the storm hits. Or should we say, we drive right into the storm.
In the past week we learned influential power pop group Big Star will be making an appearance at the festival. Just this past year the band's early seminal works were reissued, including No. 1 Record and Radio City. If it wasn't for Alex Chilton and Big Star, we probably wouldn't have had things like the Replacements or even the Jonas Brothers. We are only half-kidding about the J-Bros.
Aside from Big Star, this week SXSW also announced plenty of other biggies to the showcase roster. "Queen Of Rockabilly" Wanda Jackson is headlining an Oklahoma-centric showcase over at The Copa. Jackson just finished work this past fall on a comeback record of sorts with none other than Jack White. It's said to be a return to her rocking roots, and the first fruits of their work together have already been released on a 7" on White's Third Man label.
Ray Davies of the Kinks is playing March 18 at La Zona Rosa, debuting some of his newer solo work and closing out the set backed by the 88 on some of the Kinks' faster and aggressive stuff. A full-scale Kinks reunion has been in the offing for a few years now, and hopefully a good reception during SXSW will be a catalyst for something big.
SXSW is known for the free booze that flows like well, free booze, but if you need something to soak up all the demon liquid, we found a site that will point you to all the free food lurking around Austin that week. This site won't steer you wrong, seeing that the first listing we saw was for free funnel cakes. After having to buy our funnel cakes like a schlub at RodeoHouston, free sounds just fine to us.
Among the big indie names we discovered this past week that were added, our standouts were Crystal Castles and Jeff the Brotherhood. We first saw the Castles on the roof of a club at SXSW 2008 and were hooked on their cataclysmic sound (and lead singer Alice Glass). Their set at this past year's Fun Fun Fun Fest at Waterloo Park was seizure-inducing, but well worth waiting in the rain for.
