Eleventh annual SXSW provides musical vacation

Bands from all over convene in Texas for festival

Five nights of live music. 600 bands. 5,500 representatives from all areas of the music industry. Interested? You'll have to wait until next March to experience South By Southwest (SXSW) '98. Fortunately, however, as the sole registrant from Oberlin, Ohio, I can do you the favor of filling in many of the SXSW '97 five-day music festival highlights

Midterms completed and worry-free, I headed down to Bob Popular (a club) Thursday to experience my first show of the evening. Even at 8 p.m., walking around downtown Austin was an event in itself: the streets were crowded with clashing locals and New York yuppies, teenagers and 40-year-old label execs and, of course, anyone who's anyone is wearing a dorky press pass with a map on the back of it. Laugh now, but they actually came in handy staggering back to the hotel at 3 in the morning.

The band opening at Bob Popular was Oxford, UK's jungle-oriented group, the egg, which would have been a great show had we not gotten kicked out of the bar. Luckily, there were many others to choose from. While I regret missing Matthew Sweet, LA's Extra Fancy and The Frogs, of Scratchie Records fame, my maudlin roommates and I grabbed a cab to Austin's outskirts to see Chicago's Three Blue Teardrops and LA's Royal Crown Revue at the Scholz Beer Garten.

The Scholz show was a favorite amongst its attendees: the bands were hosted as part of a full Swing Night - several audience members were decked out in `40s-style hemlined dresses and slick mobster suits with wing-tips. And the bands were excellent: classic rockabilly was mixed with big band-style swing with upright bass and full-horn accompaniment. Standards were slipped in between original numbers and even in the hour-long 2 a.m. set, the crowd never tired.

After sleeping off the previous night, Friday began at around 2 p.m. - just enough time to make it to the afternoon festivities. My friendly, drawl-heavy cab driver dropped me off at the Green Mesquite Cafe for the Virgin Records BBQ where I was immediately whisked into the free-food line. Though strict Obie vegans would have protested Texas cuisine immediately upon arrival, I became accustomed to making the best of the standards: white bread, never without pickles, raw onions and lots of ketchup. Homemade chili beans are also predictable, with coleslaw or potato salad, or, "Why don't y'all take a little of everything?" Wash it all down with some, um, clear liquids and, as always, great live music.

Unfortunately, the individual artists that performed weren't formally introduced, but the theme was classic, old town blues, and it oddly fit the Southwestern setting. Thick, harmonic, slow bass lines and smoky vocals shed the perfect light on the munching on-lookers. As good as it was, the event followed the unspoken rule of SXSW: no one should stay at the same club for longer than two hours.

So, at 4:30 p.m. the crowd shifted to the Nothing/Interscope party at Emo's, a favorite venue for punk shows. After standing in the sidelines watching a few easily forgettable hard rock groups, we headed to an MCA dinner and then, the Friday night edition of the music festival finally kicked off.

Southern California native that I am, my first stop was the Backroom club for a showcase of the best in classic ska. I arrived just in time to see Save Ferris, a female-fronted, horn-happy seven-piece. While most of the crowd consisted of teenage locals, the other badge holders and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and even stepped backstage to chat with the chipper singer after the set. Other ska greats that night included Chicago's Blue Meanies and California's Reel Big Fish and Buck-O-Nine, each performing their own rendition of melodic ska-punk.

Next, we headed to Atomic Cafe for a change of pace and experienced the guts-driven rock sounds of Arizona's Jimmy Eat World and LA's Sensefield. The pair put on an excellent show to a large, respectful audience, mesmerized and unaware of the beer-happy wanderers outside the club. For a few hours, at least, angsty music ruled the scene: power chords and honest, heart-wrenching lyrics were a well-respected trademark of the former, while heavier, harder rock characterized the latter.

Though the previous set couldn't have been more satisfying, the young night beckoned us to our next destination: an after party uptown where the Dust Brothers were allegedly spinning. To much disappointment, however, only one of the pair was present and he was more involved with chatting up the A&R reps than making music. Nevertheless, the party filled the slow 2-4 a.m. time slot.

Unfortunately for the night owls - a term embracing nearly every SXSW attendee - most of the discussion panels were held during precious sleeping hours. However, I did manage to make it to one of Saturday's features, Stump the Rock Critic, which was basically a rock journalist Jeopardy! and isn't really worth mentioning. Luckily, an afternoon SonicNet - on-line music web site - party reintroduced the live music, featuring several unique unsigned acts. One band even consisted of a drummer, guitarist and tuba player. Elsewhere in the club, a full label-icon karaoke concert was in effect, with cameos from Lisa Loeb and others doing Clash, Ramones and Psychedelic Furs covers, to name a few.

Saturday night was another BBQ, with more white bread, coleslaw and beverages. However, upon discovering the artist, Pete Mayes, was local and unexciting, my companions and I took to the streets to explore our final night at the conference. Though we couldn't get in to see Less Than Jake and Supergrass at one crowded venue (note: don't leave home without your fake ID), we took the risk returning to Bob Popular and caught the end of Elysian Fields, who played a moving set.

With more time to kill, we headed to Steamboat to hear some fairly generic LA bands and left for our midnight destination early: Liberty Lunch, where we experienced The Jazz Passengers with former Blondie great, Deborah Harry. Improvisations and sexy vocals made this show one of the best, but unfortunately the club was almost too crowded to tolerate.

Sunday came all too quickly, but after a full champagne breakfast, I was ready to head back to humble Oberlin. As compared with other Spring Breaks I've heard about, mine was pretty damn good. For anyone who has anything to do with music, SXSW is a privileged experience. The only downside? Not enough time to see everything on the agenda. However, free food and music for four days beats quarter beers hip-hop night at the 'Sco anytime. If you have the means, go to Texas next spring and hear for yourself. And maybe I'll see you there.

From Top: former Blondie singer Deborah Harry with the jazz passengers; saxophonist Eric Zamora and trumpetist Jose Castellenos of Save Ferris; singer Monique Powell of Save Ferris; guitarist Tom Linton of Jimmy Eat World(photos by Lauren Viera)