Nerds make the best music

Most of you must have noticed the influx of insanity that is SXSW over this last week! Austinites said "Hello!" to a plethora of pretentious Brooklyn hipsters wearing all black (isn't the world over that yet?!), to which the hipsters replied, "Fuck you." Ahh, tourists.

But thankfully awesome music and free food/drinks were just as plentiful as the hipsters, and Thom and I partook as best we could. I was hindered by my minor-ness and couldn't get into the venues or enjoy the free beer that Thom could...and so I would like to formally apologize here to Thom for my 21st birthday being but two weeks away. Will you ever forgive me? :(



Of the free shows we did see, one of the best was from one of Austin's very own bands, the 80s-nerd-fabulous Built by Snow. We have blogged about them before, over a year ago. And not once had we seen them until now! Oh the shame.

We totally made up for it since they absolutely rocked the robot socks off of Fado Irish Pub on Friday night! After announcing themselves to hail from Tokyo, Japan, they played some catchy tunes from their most recent release, Mega, and a couple of experimental new ones. When the small crowd cheered them one for "one! more! song!", they returned to kick ass with Devo's "Girl U Want." They were nerdy, hilarious, and fun, and they have earned a 2g1k stamp of approval for all-around awesomeness.

"Something in 3D" - Built by Snow
"All the Weird Kids Know" - Built by Snow

As Thom and I get back to SKOOL this week we'll be posting here about our other SXSW experiences, including bands like:

-Neon Indian
-Memory Tapes
-Dam Funk
-The xx
-We Are Scientists
-She & Him

And other adventures like:

-Mildly famous people sightings
-Window cats
-Tripped out LSD guy

Stay tuned and keep rockin'!

Timid Tilly's brush with [adorable!] fame

Rounding out the end of SXSW 2009, Tilly and Thom attended the Saturday evening premiere of the adorable indie flick 500 Days of Summer, directed by Marc Webb and written by Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber.



The director, writer, and stars Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt made an appearance right before the show began and at the subsequent Q&A. Tilly was a bit nervous about actually getting so close to these famous people, especially since she is a teensy bit obsessed with Zooey Deschanel (see the evidence). Armed only with a crappy phone camera, she was too embarrassed to ask to take a picture with her indie idol or her super-cute counterpart, Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

The lead actors are apparently BFFs, as they said in the Q&A. Way cute. It helped to make their performances in this quirky, sweet and hilarious film believable and thoroughly charming. When 500 Days of Summer shows up in regular movie theaters on July 24, we urge you to see it! It also has really great music, which doesn't just adorn the soundtrack but permeates the film in the best possible way. Check out the tracks below!

"Us" - Regina Spektor
"Sweet Disposition" - The Temper Trap

Rorschach's journal: We Have Band

Thursday March 19, 2009. 4:05pm. South by Southwest. Urban Outfitters back patio, Austin, Texas.

Two girls enjoy British indie trio We Have Band. Thom takes pictures. Small crowd dances awkwardly. Embarrassed. Then unicorn-headed man dances exuberantly, revives crowd. Unicorn-headed man stands in back, drinks free beer. Tilly and Thom have no beer. Tilly and Thom are under 21.



Band member declares "This is hottest place we've ever played!" It is 78 degrees. Tilly and Thom laugh.

Bass. Synthesizers. Kick drum. Snares. Tambourine. Human voices. We Have Band makes good music.



"You've Had Band" - We Have Band
"Oh!" - We Have Band

Is this what L.A. is like?

Before my assignment on Monday I went to a party because I heard there was free food. When I got there were people smoking hookah, getting henna, and there was even someone rolling cigars. I imagine this is what L.A. parties are like, but with more celebrities.



After this I took pictures of Sparhusen one of the greatest bands to ever come out of Sweden.

Cutthroat Red Carpet

On Sunday I took pictures at the Adventureland movie premiere. It was my first experience being a paparazzo.



I had been standing for a position right in front of the carpet, when a much taller photographer cut in front of me. Another photographer and I teamed up against him, making faces behind his back and eventually I got my original position back. It was pretty intense.

Eventually Bill Hader and Greg Mottola (director of Superbad) showed up.


Bill Hader looked directly at me when I said, "welcome to Austin!"


Bill Hader poses with a reporter from News 8 Austin.


Adventureland Q&A

"Roll Up the Red Carpet" - Doll and The Kicks

Parties and the Bees

Today was my first day of officially working for SXSW. Before I began my assignments I had to get my badge and camera tagged at the Austin Convention Center.



This took an hour longer than I thought it would mainly because the convention center is gigantic and I got lost easily.

Since I will be volunteering about 70 hours during SXSW I got a Platinum Badge to use during the conference which allows me to get into just about every interactive, film and music event. I need these credentials in order to get the photographs they need for SXSW.



What I didn't realize until later was how much my badge was worth. If it didn't have my name or picture on it, well, I would definitely consider selling it.

My first assignment was to take pictures at a party for a company called Razorfish. I went to the club it was held at called The Madison and had to show my badge to bouncers in order to get in.





There was an interactive touch screen where the guests who had registered could place a card on it and it would bring up their facebook profile.



Besides the oddity of accessing someone's profile from a touchscreen, it was even weirder since all the guests were about 35 or over.

After taking pictures at the party I wandered around downtown and took pictures from the roof of the Austin Convention Center.



My last assignment for the night was a film premiere of 'The Last Beekeeper,' a documentary about bees pollinating almonds in California, and how the bee population is rapidly declining.



The director created buzz about the movie. Seriously however, by the year 2035 there may be no more bees in America causing serious problems for our economy and ecosystem. A very scary thought, a world with no bees.

"The Party's Crashing US" - Of Montreal

SXSW absurdity

I will be taking pictures for SXSW this week. Last night I helped out with the SXSW bag stuffing, an event required for all volunteers. The process was a fascinating experience, a social experiment waiting to happen. I would grab a tote bag, then walk down a long row of about fifty people whose job it was to put various materials into the bag, a human assembly line. I met hundreds of people in a matter of minutes for a duration too short to create awkward small talk, but too long to not say anything at all.

Throughout all of this a DJ serenaded us with a variety of tunes from Love Shack to Reach for the Sky. In a room with over a thousand people working monotonously, it was weird to see people randomly dancing as they sorted iTunes gift cards or placed condoms in the tote bags.

After we finished stuffing 27,000 bags the room erupted into applause. There's nothing that unites a group of a thousand strangers more than completing a highly repetitive and inane task. It was amazing.

I have decided, fellow readers, that besides covering my required assignments for SXSW I will try to show you the underbelly of the SXSW beast through the unbiased lens of my camera. Yes, it is an efficient commercialism machine which floods the streets of Austin. And yes, it is a seemingly endless stream of drunkness and meaningless parties (which sadly I am not old enough to enjoy until next year).

Over the next several days on this blog I will try to capture the essence of South By South West, forever searching for the wealth of creativity and artistry that lies at its core. Or so I hope.

"Photograph" - Weezer
"I Turn My Camera On" - Spoon
"The Film Did Not Go 'Round" - Nada Surf

*there's a new SXSW poll btw!