SXSW Film Festival-2K7: Tiptoeing Through The Tulips
by: Dony Wynn

Every time of the year when the SXSW Film Festival rolls around I find myself getting itchy, extra geezy, in fact. Just think, a solid week in which escape into the ether of another’s celluloid spin becomes my reality; a glorious, welcome respite from the rigors of the daily grind; a golden opportunity to giggle, titter, squirm, shout, cry, shudder and tremble before big-screen images and THX sounds which, in turn, burn themselves permanently into the recessed fissures of your medulla oblongata. Yeah, like that. …Itchy, I tell you, dear reader, plumb itchy.. Read the rest of this entry »

[fa:p:id=1066712495,j=r,s=s,l=p]AUSTIN DAZE: Tell us about your new CD. What can we expect?

FREDDIE “STEADY”: Well the new CD is called Tex-Pop by The Freddie Steady 5 and the title pretty much implies what the music is. I had my first pop group The Explosives in the late 70s early 80s and then I did some records with my band the Shakin’ Apostles in the 90s for a label called East Side Digital–they were part of Ryko Disc. While with them, I made what I thought was my most pop record ever and I turned it in and the president said, “I really love this. We are kind of going in that country direction.” And I went, “UH”. My point is, that I’m so inspired by the Beatles and British pop and sixties stuff–that’s why the stuff is pretty and arranged and melodic–but it still sounds like a guy from Texas doing it. My long time partner, Cam King, who was also in the Explosives, co-produced this record with me and we co-wrote four songs on it and it’s kind of, if anybody knows my history, it’s kind of like The Explosives but with a keyboard. It’s kind of power pop. It’s Tex-Pop. Read the rest of this entry »

[fa:p:id=1067584150,j=r,s=s,l=p]AUSTIN DAZE: How did you first get involved with music?

BILLY BOB THORNTON: Well I actually really got involved in movies. I was in music always. You know, from the beginning. I started when I was 9 or 10 years old and that’s what I did and what I thought I was going to do. Then I kind of got into a theater group and accidentally became a movie star.

AD: In Tres Hombres, your ZZ Top tribute band, did you have a beard?

BBT: Yeah, but I didn’t have to have a long one because I was the drummer. The other guys had to have the beards. Read the rest of this entry »

[fa:p:id=1066715989,j=r,s=s,l=p]AUSTIN DAZE: How did you get started in music?

OLIVER RAJAMANI: Well I started playing music in India where I grew up and I started really young—probably when I was about 5 or 6. My family was really into music–my uncle had a band–so I used to play in the band and I was just surrounded by music. In India, especially back in those days, there was just a lot more live music on the streets. You don’t find it as much today. It is still there but you don’t find it as much.

Then I went to an International American School in India–that’s why my English is without a thick India accent—where I studied western classical music and theory as well as jazz. I was in a rock and roll band. So this was another side to my Indian music. Also, my father was really into country music—it was a big thing over there back then. A lot of people think that I grew up listening to the kind of music that I play but I actually grew up listening to a lot more country because my dad listened to it all the time at home. Sometimes I play a country song at my shows and they think it’s weird but they don’t realize that is what I grew up on. Read the rest of this entry »

[fa:p:id=1067578298,j=r,s=s,l=p]AUSTIN DAZE: Tell us about your new solo album coming out.

BRUCE HUGHES: It’s called Shorty. It’s about 21 songs that are all about 2 minutes long. Some are shorter, there are a couple that are almost 3 minutes, but most of them are really short.

AD: How would you describe the style?

BH: It’s all over the map. There are a couple that are me and my guitar, there are a couple that are full production, there are some that are full band, some that are electronica, some that are raw. The whole premise of the record really was the “short song.” Not any sort of style or phonetic representation—just as long as it was short it was viable to go on. If it was over 3 minutes long it was cut from the list. Read the rest of this entry »

[fa:p:id=1067583450,j=r,s=s,l=p]AUSTIN DAZE: What drew you to music? Was it your first choice for a career?

ZAP MAMA: My first choice as a teenager was to become an Olympic champion. Music was the second love for me because it was so deep inside. I never thought it was possible to get money for this profession, especially with the training that I had. But when I did a trip to Africa it made me realize who the African woman is, who my mother was, and who I could be. I found a part of myself. I realized in Africa there is a huge culture of music that should be known in the western world. That’s when I really started to have a new view of music. And then I discovered all the new vocal techniques and harmony and new rhythms. You can’t really explain what that is—especially the oral tradition. It has a lot of spirituality and soul that is passed along only from mother to mother or family to family from generation to generation. All this helped me to put together a music group. I put together an acappela group of four other singers to talk about all these sounds and this culture. That was 17 years ago. Read the rest of this entry »

[fa:p:id=1066713593,j=r,s=s,l=p]AUSTIN DAZE: Where does the name Ghostland Observatory come from?

GHOSTLAND OBSERVATORY: When National Geographic would come out with new telescope pictures of space I would always cut out pictures and tape them all over the room. Around the same time we were working on music for a play by August Strindberg called Ghost Sonata. With all that mixed in, one day I was at my former job in the bathroom and it just came into my head. I wasn’t even thinking about the band—it just came to me. So I ran back out of my bathroom stall and told my coworkers and they thought it was awesome. There is a guy at work who I would always bounce things off of. He’s an older gentleman who grew up in the 60s and he would tell me if something was stupid, and he thought it was pretty awesome. So I was like, “This is banging, let’s stick with this.” It was an astrological dumping in my mind. Read the rest of this entry »

[fa:p:id=1067583696,j=r,s=s,l=p]AUSTIN DAZE: We would like to know, what is the most important and meaningful message you could offer all of us living in these times?

ELDER DAVE COURCHENE JR: I think one of the biggest struggles that we have as humans is trying to understand the fullness of what constitutes our being. According to the teachings of our people and our understanding of our humanness, there are four elements that represent what a human being is: the first is what we refer to as the spiritual, or the spirit of our being; the second part is the emotions that we reflect as human beings; the third part is the physical part; and the fourth part is the mind. I think that as human beings we have evolved in many ways intellectually. Read the rest of this entry »

[fa:p:id=1066719625,j=r,s=s,l=p]AUSTIN DAZE: Tell us about your song, “Color Nature Gone.” It is very relevant to the times.

TOM BEE: That song appears on an album titled Silent Warrior by a group XIT which I was the lead singer and principal songwriter. It was released on Motown back in 1973. The song was way ahead of its time. About the same time Marvin Gaye put one out called, “What’s Going On?” which was also an ecological rant of a song.

We’re in the process of re-releasing “Color Nature Gone” as a single. Not so much for a profit—because we’re not interested in the sale—but as a musical public service announcement to alert the world and the nation the importance of saving this planet and global warming and all the things that come with it. I feel that “Color, Nature, Gone” is the real true American song with the sound of the bells and the drums. Coming from a Native American group, what better way to express the urgency of the situation then with a song Native Americans call, “Color, Nature, Gone?” Read the rest of this entry »

[fa:p:id=1066718605,j=r,s=s,l=p]AUSTIN DAZE: Native Roots blends both the spiritual philosophies and musical elements of reggae and Native American culture. How did this first happen?

JOHN WILLIAMS: Native Roots is a partnership between me and the lead singer Emmett Garcia. As far as the reggae music, for me, it goes back years and years into the ’70s. The Native American movement was real strong in northern Arizona—I grew up on a reservation there—and we just listened to Bob Marley every single night. What he said seemed to relate directly to what we were experiencing. The message was that we needed to lift up and stay strong when everything was pushing us down. That was my first experience with reggae music and Rasta. And then I did some traveling. I played a variety of styles of music and was playing in a band that had a Santana-like sound. We got to go to Europe, and I really found how universal reggae music was. I thought it was just us in northern Arizona that were listening to reggae music day and night, and I found out the whole world was. So when I came back I made a conscious effort to mold my musical focus on reggae music and to do it in the true spirit. Read the rest of this entry »

My friend Russ had asked me to find something interesting to do for his birthday, and after checking my e-mail, I found out that Therapy? from Dublin, Ireland was headlining the North By Northeast Festival in Toronto. With a few phone calls and e-mails, we were on the press list, as Therapy? was actually the first band I interviewed as a young journalist: I had discovered the band at 12, but was never old enough to see them in clubs. For my 21^st birthday, I interviewed Therapy? at the Eureka Tavern in Cleveland, Ohio, and they’re then cello player Graham said something that literally clicked my entire journalism career into place: “if we’re really you’re favorite band since you were 12, and you can sit and interview us like normal people, then couldn’t you just as easily interview the president?”

To say the least, Therapy? has always held a special place in my heart. So as soon as we were given the green light, and I mean this was only a couple days notice, we packed up the car for the drive from Baltimore, taking a “short cut” through the Pennsylvania mountains by following a thin red line on a map – not my idea – that put us a few hours behind schedule. Friday morning, we pull into the Niagara Falls around 7 a.m., making a quick drive-by, as it was $12 just to park the car and we did not have time.

We were able to find a nice $2.99 breakfast special to power us up. The Canadian bacon they passed off as ham left something to be desired. Still, it was decent, even if the falls water left our brakes not working well.

When the brakes were dry and our bellies full, we zoomed upwards. Somebody had told us about coffee shops in Hamilton, but we never found our way to them, the closest we would be able to find was a rasta club in Toronto that wanted to charge a cover to let us come in and smoke weed. Not having enough to roll one with, we passed that opportunity as well.

The Holiday Inn on King Street was the heartbeat of the festival. Checking in, we were cast aside by one young fellow in partial drag, but that allowed us to bond with some of the worker girls who tuned us into events. The one girl tried to convince me to sit in on the interview with Peaches, touting that she tours with NIN, but though I loved the title to her hit song, I didn’t really think that the rest of the music held up to the expected title of it.

Besides, we had stuff to do, like sleep, so we checked into the Best Western a few blocks away, called for a wake-up call and never received it. This was a little more than annoying, because we missed the Feminist Porn Awards, which I really wanted to check out, and it also made us miss the interview that everyone forgot to mention to me was scheduled for six p.m.. Around ten, we mosey over to El Macamabo, only to find I forgot my camera battery, so we show back up closer to eleven where I ran into Andy.

The lead singer of Therapy? had remembered me from the previous interview, and suggested that we meet up after the show, so we settled in. Only one song I did not know, one that was not released here in the States, dancing around brought me back to the teenager mentality, as it did others. There was a whole group of us singing every song, dancing around happy.

I was a tad upset to not see Graham, after his great observation to me, but Therapy? was a three-piece to begin with, and even though Fife was not on drums, Neil made an awesome addition to the band, a perfectly great fit. The thing I’ve always liked about Therapy? was that they’re always trying something new, some new little tweak, going through all the range of music. Emotions are reflected, weaving a patchwork of life with funny faces and a mouthful of spit and beer showering all over the stage, power packed vision.

After the music, while listening to a local band that was fairly decent, we met up with Andy and manager Richard, discussing times to meet up for the interview that should have already happened, agreeing on the Holiday Inn on King, squeezing in talk time before the interview with Rob Halford. Andy has a wonderful sense of timing, even if I don’t, and the next morning, he caught us in the lobby, inviting us across the street for a round of Corona. I typed with Russ asked some questions, all of us laughing hysterically, but we kept an eye on the time, as none of us could bear to miss Rob Halford.

Wrapping up the interview with the unicorn and yogurt questions, we trailed across the street to watch the interview, sitting in the back of the room like misfits, drinking beer, yet sitting with rapt attention when the chat began; Kids In The Hall’s Dave Foley snuck in to stand directly behind us. Rob saw him trying to sneak in, calling attention to him, and as the interviewer brought us gay issues, Rob suggested that everyone should try being gay for a day, something I would later do in his honor for gay pride. While I tried to transcribe everything on the laptop, Russ snuck around like a cat trying to snap a few pictures, and the Therapy? guys drank attentively.

My constant typing wound up catching the attention of Marcus, lead singer of a local band and owner of his own database company, who would later guide us around the city a bit as we looked for the films showing later. Of course, our waiting to all get pictures with Rob Halford made us miss the movie about CBGB’s in the late 70s, we were able to catch “About A Son.” This movie made band Nirvana live up to its meaning of transcending death.

“About A Son” was the only film we caught as part of the festival, but it was eerily enough, for it was the voice of Kurt Cobain, recorded during his interviews for the biography “Come As You Are,” hearing a friendly ghost. Visualizations along with his own voice showed not family album style stuff, but pictures of his home towns in the current day, sunsets and scenery. Though there was great photography, colors matching the tones of what he was talking about, it was designed to let people focus on his own words.

From his fall into heroin to his living with a girl who’d care for him, he gives his own opinions on his life from beyond the grave, true Nirvana. Courtney took charge of making things happen for him, not letting him be pushed around or simply being complacent with life, truly his life partner. Hearing his observations on fame and friends was truly heart wrenching.

With a bite of food from Little Italy topping off our Vietnamese breakfast, I felt sluggish leaving the theatre, almost like I couldn’t leave. Russ convinced me otherwise by pointing at the time, so a quick change of pace led us debating on which acts to see, and while I really wanted to check out Lesbians on Ecstasy, just to see if they lived up to their name, we opted to see Tara Sloane, the former lead singer of Joy Drop, an old time favorite. By the time we hoofed through the gay district, we only caught the last three songs, but we did get to see her belt out “American Dream Girl” and a cover.

During the last song or so, I noticed that J from Dinosaur Jr. was standing next to me, and we said brief hellos, as I’d also seen him when I was first checking into the event for press and at the Therapy? show, so I gave him a book and wanted to ask about the equipment that was stolen last year, but I waited and asked his press agent, not wanting to bring up heart ache, only to find out that nothing has been recovered from the robbery. Hopefully my book will put a bit of a smile on his face when he reads it. Books were also handed out to Rob Halford, the Therapy? guys, Tara’s guitar player, and the bass player from the other headliner Urge Overkill.

Was I the only one who did not realize that Urge Overkill sang that song, “Girl, You’ll be a Woman Soon,” giving me flashbacks to Juliette Lewis, her dancing around in that one movie: you know what I mean, right? If you don’t, too bad, just rent all of her movies until you find that scene. Trust me, with titles like “Natural Born Killers” and “Kalifornia” – a movie that does have a Therapy? song in it – under her belt, you’ll be entertained.

Okay, so after Urge Overkill, we had to pack up, and I guess we missed most of the 450 bands at the 40 clubs, but I had fun, even if I missed the dog show, because we did see hookers in action and talked to the bums. Hitting up the beer store and picking up a few Cuban cigars on the way out, we did make another drive-by past Niagara Falls, seeing all the tourist attractions in full bloom while following out the royal highway 420 to home. Toronto might not be as corporately recognized as Austin’s SXSW, but if you want to find some off-the-wall stuff in a laid back atmosphere, being around bands you never heard of from across the globe, then this is where it’s at, just as much, if not more, going on to keep you more than amused.