I think my body has lost all sense of what a time zone is, I am exhausted beyond words, and it's been a pretty awful week in general, but all it takes is one song to supersede all of that. This is how music is so powerful.
I was walking through Ronald Reagan Airport this afternoon (which makes about as much sense when you're trying to navigate it as Ronald Reagan himself did), from my 8th flight this week to the 9th. Almost back in Austin, I naturally had headphones on to get me from point A to B (or, well, point Q to point R at this point). I've been on an abnormally intense Decemberists kick lately, and the past couple of days have been devoted to the song "The Legionnaire's Lament." The moment it began playing, it was like I had taken a shower in a vat of espresso coffee. Despite everything, the second the chorus kicked in, someone could just as well have been injecting it in my vein. Everything else melted away for a moment -- all that existed was the music and the sudden bounce in my step (and some really cool lego fixtures under glass that were randomly in the terminal and distracted me so long I almost missed my flight).
It's SXSW week here in Austin. We're filming various aspects of it, both positive and negative. We're filming our own heroes who we've been working with for months now, too. I'm torn between excitement and cynicism. There's so much great music this week, it's absolutely overwhelming. Each moment of each day somewhere I can experience something like what I did today at the airport when I heard that certain song. Live music has a magic all its own that can't be captured outside of experiencing it. So yes, it's very exciting to have so many artists left, right, and center.
But it's still SXSW. It's not like those festivals that are all about throwing a giant musical party for days on end. It's a film festival as well as a music one, and the music week seems to be designed a lot like the film one. As far as official shows go, bands play showcases -- they get 30 minutes to show off for the industry folk who've come to town to find a new crop of kids to tap their feet to and market to the 14-30 demographic. Something in me cringes at the thought that even though I might get to see a band I adore and rarely see live, it won't be a real show. It'll be a demo.
I think the perfect example of this is how we ended up deciding not to shoot a band at the festival, who we've been wanting to work with for months. The Octopus Project puts on an amazing stage show, and they haven't played live since we started production so this was going to be a perfect opportunity. We realized, though, that their set would be short, and without most of the theatrics they usually involve. So what's the point? They're touring in Texas next month, let's just go down to Houston or something, right? Right.
Even though this is going to be a very exciting and fun week, and I'm definitely looking forward to it, I can't help but take it all with a grain of corporate salt. After months of strolling down to local venues and enjoying shows, the thought of fighting my wristbanded way in (or standing in lines) just to see a band play half a set isn't all that palatable. I'm somewhat nervous that my most enjoyable musical experience during this of all weeks will have been that moment at Ronald Reagan airport. How ironic would it be, if the most palpable music this week will have been the only one that wasn't live? Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. We'll see how the week goes before I get too cynical.
I was walking through Ronald Reagan Airport this afternoon (which makes about as much sense when you're trying to navigate it as Ronald Reagan himself did), from my 8th flight this week to the 9th. Almost back in Austin, I naturally had headphones on to get me from point A to B (or, well, point Q to point R at this point). I've been on an abnormally intense Decemberists kick lately, and the past couple of days have been devoted to the song "The Legionnaire's Lament." The moment it began playing, it was like I had taken a shower in a vat of espresso coffee. Despite everything, the second the chorus kicked in, someone could just as well have been injecting it in my vein. Everything else melted away for a moment -- all that existed was the music and the sudden bounce in my step (and some really cool lego fixtures under glass that were randomly in the terminal and distracted me so long I almost missed my flight).
It's SXSW week here in Austin. We're filming various aspects of it, both positive and negative. We're filming our own heroes who we've been working with for months now, too. I'm torn between excitement and cynicism. There's so much great music this week, it's absolutely overwhelming. Each moment of each day somewhere I can experience something like what I did today at the airport when I heard that certain song. Live music has a magic all its own that can't be captured outside of experiencing it. So yes, it's very exciting to have so many artists left, right, and center.
But it's still SXSW. It's not like those festivals that are all about throwing a giant musical party for days on end. It's a film festival as well as a music one, and the music week seems to be designed a lot like the film one. As far as official shows go, bands play showcases -- they get 30 minutes to show off for the industry folk who've come to town to find a new crop of kids to tap their feet to and market to the 14-30 demographic. Something in me cringes at the thought that even though I might get to see a band I adore and rarely see live, it won't be a real show. It'll be a demo.
I think the perfect example of this is how we ended up deciding not to shoot a band at the festival, who we've been wanting to work with for months. The Octopus Project puts on an amazing stage show, and they haven't played live since we started production so this was going to be a perfect opportunity. We realized, though, that their set would be short, and without most of the theatrics they usually involve. So what's the point? They're touring in Texas next month, let's just go down to Houston or something, right? Right.
Even though this is going to be a very exciting and fun week, and I'm definitely looking forward to it, I can't help but take it all with a grain of corporate salt. After months of strolling down to local venues and enjoying shows, the thought of fighting my wristbanded way in (or standing in lines) just to see a band play half a set isn't all that palatable. I'm somewhat nervous that my most enjoyable musical experience during this of all weeks will have been that moment at Ronald Reagan airport. How ironic would it be, if the most palpable music this week will have been the only one that wasn't live? Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. We'll see how the week goes before I get too cynical.
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