as remembered by Joe...

If the Internet has taught me anything, other than where to find the finest in Eastern European Art Photography, it’s that people seemingly have an un-ending appetite for the most boring minutiae of other peoples’ lives. With that in mind, here are a few brief moments of clarity from South By Southwest. Dig-In.

Wednesday: 4:30 AM
Hit snooze button

4:39 AM
Engage in rigorous debate with alarm clock...hit snooze button.

4:48 AM
Drag ass to shower, temporarily energized by knowledge of flight to points South

6:30 AM
Strut across Tarmac like a real jet-setter, board flight to Cleveland (isn’t Cleveland North?)

9:00 AM
Judge relative hipness vs. everyone else waiting to board Austin flight.

12:25 PM
Sunny and 80 degrees. God Bless the Wright Bros.

12:30 PM
Almost run over Rolling Stone critic David Fricke in parking garage. Ponder pros/cons of Vehicular Manslaughter charge on music career.

1:17 PM
Beer on Opal Devine’s patio. When in Austin I drink Lone Star and Shiner Bock. Pittsburgh = Iron City. Minneapolis = Grain Belt. Chicago = Old Style. You just can drink the same old beer everywhere you go unless you’re the kind that eats at Applebee’s all the time.

1:35 PM
Loose Diamonds. Great to see them together again. Troy is Bruce Springsteen’s favorite singer and Scrappy Jud plays guitar much older than his years.

4:08 PM
Bald head starting to sunburn. Stupid genes.

4:40 PM
To buy or not to buy the $125 wristband…that is the question. $125 for admission to every show or just pay cover for the few shows we want to see. It’s a tough one. Do you go with the all-you-can-eat buffet or order off the menu? At the buffet you have to eat a whole lot to get you money’s worth, and you usually end up eating a lot of crap you didn’t want anyway.

5:15 PM
Boy that buffet looks tasty. Waiting to buy the $125 wristbands at convention center. Ex-manager cuts in line with us.

6:15 PM
Ex-manager’s eyes starting to glaze over with exhaustion from an hour of watershed stories.

8:30 PM
1st appearance at Shakespeare’s Pub. Margaritas bring flashbacks of tiny Mexican towns where you can get a buzz from breathing.

8:55 PM
Have sudden urge to buy cowboy hat.

11:08 PM
Use wristband to get into Idol showcase. At this point we’ve spent $125 to get into our own label’s showcase. Nice.

12:00 AM
Daryl. Label-mates. Rocking Hard. Very hard.

1:00 AM
The Fags. Great as per usual. Got a kick out of watching Seymour Stein watch us watch the band.

2:00 AM
Wait in line at Whataburger Drive Thru. No sign of Ex-manager trying to cut in line.

Thursday: 9:00 AM
Ignore knock at door from Housekeeping. One less room for them to clean today.

12:00 PM
Beers and shots with Erv from Idol records and The Fags. In industry terms, this is what’s known as a ‘business meeting’.

2:15 PM
Can’t get past velvet rope at Tim Easton New West Records showcase. This is becoming a SXSW tradition.

4:00 PM
Free Keystone Light at Emos. I’ve drunk from New York gutters that tasted better than this. Bottled-beer taste in a can? News Flash: Bottled piss is still piss.

4:05 PM
Caviar (the band, not the food) gets blown off the stage by AC/DC Back in Black playing from PA during their set-up.

8:00 PM
Aqualung (?) Pretentious, self-important, piano guitar duo (see Wed. 4:40 PM re: eating crap at a buffet).

11:00 PM
Cake (the band, not the food). Hits. Hits. Hits.

12:00 AM
Little Richard. The Architect of Rock ‘n’ Roll. The cat can still sing like a mother. Old, fragile, crazy, fantastic.

1:00 AM
The Yayhoos. A cavalcade of stars (Dan Baird, Terry Anderson, Eric ‘Roscoe’ Ambel, and Keith Christopher). They we a-rockin’ and a-rollin’. Fuckin’ A, Fuckin’ Right.

2:00 AM
Joan Jett. She rocks; she looks great; she doesn’t want to have sex with me. One question: Why go through all the trouble of dressing up the guitar player in a so-called punk get-up (6” mohawk, New York Dolls shirt, sneer) just to ruin the whole effect by putting your 60 year old yuppie manager on Keyboards?

5:08 AM
Struggle to make a US map out of a half-eaten pancake.

6:15 AM
Pray to be released from the icy grip of Red Bull and Trucker Speed and descend into sleep, glorious sleep.

Friday: 9:15 AM
Ignore knock at door from housekeeping. She’ll be glad to not have to wrestle with this pig-sty today.

10:30 AM
Discover that our toilet is clogged. No Plunger.

10:40 AM
Vaguely remember something about training for a marathon.

11:30 AM
Stumble/Jog 6 miles with aid of residual Trucker Speed.

1:00 PM
Still no plunger.

3:15 PM
Free burrito (the food, not the band) from Chipotle. This SXSW wristband sure open a lot of doors.

3:45 PM
2nd appearance at Shakespeare’s. Rendenvous with Donewaiting.com crew.

4:15 PM
Slowly being brought to my knees attempting to digest free burrito.

5:00 PM
Marah. Best show of SXSW. Who knew they were the greatest band in the world? Showmanship, Musicianship, Special Guest Stars...they had it all working.

6:15 PM
Almost killed by free burrito. Keep mind off intestinal pain by contemplating the nature of ‘free’. Some times you pay for free, oh yes, you pay dearly (see Thursday, 4:00 PM).

6:30 PM
Feeling guilty for not letting maid in. I’m sure she’d rather give it the daily once-over than try to resuscitate cleanliness from the three day shit-pile left in our wake. I thought I was giving her a couple days off, but I think I probably gave her a free burrito instead. Oh yeah, the toilet’s still clogged. Sorry.

6:45 PM
Free Beer at Rock against Bush party, but I drink Jack and Coke. I’m learning...slowly learning...

8:00 PM
Rose Hill Drive Rush meets Allman Bros. meets Blue Cheer.

10:00 PM
Rhett Miller from the Old 97s. One of the best songwriters working right now.

12:00 AM
Dwight Yoakam (the band, not the food). To paraphrase DY himself: it takes a lot to rock me, baby. Well cowboy...you rocked me alright. Can I borrow that hat?

Well, that about all I can remember. Feel free to use your imagination to fill in the blanks; that’s what I do. Just make it good...something about sex in a Port-a-John or something.

as as remembered by Colin...

SXSW stands for South by Southwest, and it is a huge music conference held every year in Austin, Texas. Last year Watershed performed at The Idol records showcase. This year, Joe, Biggie and I flew down to check out some shows and to spread the word about the upcoming W-Shed CD.

Wed. Mar 17th.
Fly to Austin connecting through Cleveland. This is the first (and sadly, possibly only) time we have ever flown in for a band related event. As much as I enjoy trucking around in the van, I have to admit that 3 hours travel time holds some advantages over 20 hours. Sitting around the terminal in Cleveland observing our fellow passengers before boarding, I couldn’t help but notice how hip everyone thought they were (including us) for going to SXSW. Needless to say, I suspected that we were all wrong. (We were)

The sun was warm, the beer and the haircuts were cool. Let’s review.

Best Show/Biggest Surprise -- Marah
These guys blew…me ..away. We had never seen them live. Biggie is a huge fan. Their “Kids in Philly” release was a smash hit in our van. So fucking good. I had no idea. Musical. Rocking. Fun. Showman. All done under God’s harsh sunlight. One of the best live shows I have ever seen under such conditions. We got hip to these guys by way of the Black Dog folks down in Mississippi.

Every song they played was great, and just when you thought it couldn’t get better, then ended with a 15-minute story about the drummer banging a rattlesnake. Genius!

I think they are playing up in Detroit when we are up recording next month. We got to drag Tim out to see em. I used to think we were good. Damn.

Best Thing Ever -- Little Richard
Seeing Little Richard perform is like seeing Thomas Jefferson give a speech. What can you say? I was excited to be in the same town with the guy, let alone standing in the front row 10 feet from his piano. Check that off my list of things to do on Earth. Next on my list…. Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, make out with a French woman, learn a card trick, see a tornado, ect.ect.

Funnest Show -- The Yahoos
T he only reason The League Bowlers exist is because of these guys. The Bowlers have only one goal left to accomplish. I want all four members of The Yahoos to listen to a copy of “Some Balls”. It occurred to me as I was watching their show, that I do the Bowlers for them as much as myself. I think they would really like the CD. Every single thing rock n roll is meant to be. I shook Terry Anderson’s hand. Kick ass.

I can’t be objective show -- The Fags
It’s hard to watch your friends play and not love it. That fact that these guys also happen to be one of the best bands around makes it that much sweeter.

DARYL also put on another outstanding show. Idol Records has some good music…. Man. Support our label mates, mates.

Other highlights: drinking with the donewaiting.com crew, Dwight Yoakam, hearing the Tim Easton CD before Dwight Yoakam, Joan Jett, seeing Caviar meltdown, Loose Diamonds and the honky tonk man.