Ballroom Dancing

Photo by Gary Miller

• Ballroom Dancing

  SXSW Panels

• Saying the Unsayable with Jarvis Cocker

  BY GREG BEETS

• Annoying Things That Bands Do

  BY THOMAS FAWCETT

• The Loudness Wars

  BY DANIEL MEE

• BBQ the Texas Way

  BY JIM CALIGIURI

• Artist as Entrepreneur

  BY DOUG FREEMAN

Annoying Things That Bands Do

Austin Convention Center, Wednesday, March 18

A panel title worthy of its own tome, this sit-down was inspired by an airing of grievances from employees of Creepy Crawl, a St. Louis venue that shuttered at the end of 2008 after an 11-year run. Jack McFadden, owner of Brooklyn's Union Hall and the Bell House, set the panel's tone immediately. "I found the list to be very condescending to artists that play our clubs, so it's not surprising to me that the Creepy Crawl isn't a venue anymore." The expected bitchfest then morphed into a lovefest. "It was a struggle to come up with things, because oftentimes bands don't annoy us," confessed Katie Tuten, owner of the Hideout in Chicago, with fellow panelist and husband Tim Tuten. "There are just some little things we hope we can give guidance on that will be good for everyone." Among the pearls of wisdom: Never help yourself to drinks behind the bar, don't be the band that asks to open for every national act, and be nice to the sound guy. "That's why sound guys go insane and turn into social retards: because people yell at them all day," McFadden surmised. Panelists agreed most anything is inbounds as long as bands ask, including pyrotechnics. Israeli spaz-rockers Monotonix doused their equipment with lighter fluid and set it ablaze before a recent Chicago show. "But they asked, so it was cool," Tim Tuten deadpanned.