A Glimpse of SXSW 2008 from Lynne Margolis

by Lynne Margolis.

In its 22nd year, the South By Southwest Music & Media Conference, aka “spring break for the music industry,” drew something like 1,700 bands performing in 80 official venues – plus countless unofficial ones, not to mention party houses, tents, parking lots and every other space where an amp and a mic could be plugged in (and plenty of places where they couldn’t).

With day parties now outweighing the actual conference in interest, many are sponsored by SXSW itself. But attractions like keynote speaker Lou Reed, interviewed by friend and producer Hal Willner, and blue-eyed soul crooner Daryl Hall, interviewed by L.A. Times writer Ann Powers, still proved powerful draws, as did sessions with industry titans like Sire Records founder Seymour Stein and former major-label honcho (he’d say “survivor”), ex-ACLU head and still-current Steve Earle compadre Danny Goldberg.

With music pouring out of every edifice and the smell of barbecue (and garbage) filling each air molecule, Austin became a giant gridlock of traffic – human and vehicular. But as usual, no major incidents were reported, a good time was had by all – including headliners R.E.M., who performed new and old material for a packed Stubb’s crowd Wednesday night and were rumored to be making all sorts of other appearances (including one with resuscitated 13th Floor Elevator legend Roky Erickson that did not materialize). Reed did appear at his own tribute, a daytime shindig at the Levi’s/Fader Fort, capping an event that featured everyone from local pop band Oh No! Oh My! to Joseph Arthur, My Morning Jacket, Thurston Moore and Moby doing covers of the Velvet Undergrounder’s tunes.

“Southby,” as locals call it, was filled with such expected and unexpected moments, including the Austin Music Awards fete involving Erickson and a tribute to the late Walter Hyatt and Champ Hood. Music films also dotted the entertainment landscape, including the celebrated Wrecking Crew about the L.A. session men whose hits ruled the charts in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and the sad chronicle of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis.

Even as it lauded veterans, SXSW was, in the end, about youth – about new sounds, new talent, new attitudes. A droll, deadpan and somewhat cantankerous Reed said, “All that young-guy stuff – that’s punk. And it’ll last forever. Because where else are they gonna put it (that angry energy)? In jail.”

Claiming to have “a B.A. in dope and a Ph.D. in soul,” Reed railed against the sound of MP3s while celebrating new acts like Dr. Dog, Joan as Police Woman, Melt Banana and Holy Fuck.

“They all have energy. A lot of what you look to a young group for is that amazing energy. I love that.” Later, as he finished a slower, yet no less blistering, version of “Take a Walk on the Wild Side,” with Moby’s band, Little Death, he said, “I love punk rock and I was the first one!”

Billy Bragg echoed Reed, talking to listeners at several performances about how the Clash made him make music and how those who sample or download music “are music lovers, not bandits or thieves.”

“We’ve got to engage with them and we’ve more or less got to engage with ‘em on their terms,” he told a gathering of music managers that included U2 producer Steve Lillywhite and his own manager, Pink Floyd and Clash veteran Peter Jenner.

Talking about the birth of his own career, Daryl Hall said he learned much from the Temptations, who were gods to him, and added of his years singing doo-wop on Philly’s streetcorners, “A cappella, gospel, street-corner music, it’s all the same thing … it was the way you made friends.” His descriptions about how singers would try to best each other sounded exactly parallel to the development of rap, though he didn’t say so.

He did mention meeting partner John Oates in the same Shubert Building elevator where Kenny Gamble met Leon Huff, and said of his work, “I’m obviously a soul-bearing artist. The most important moments of my life, everybody knows about.”

If they didn’t before, they can find out now with his monthly Webcast, “Live from Daryl’s House,” (livefromdarylshouse.com). As usual at SXSW, everybody had something to shill – even Reed, who was promoting the Julian Schnabel documentary, Lou Reed’s Berlin, which captured the live recreation of the Velvets’ landmark Berlin album, the one punks everywhere know and love.

Related Link
South by South West

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