Luv Doc Recommends: SXSW Free Concert

You see, there is this thing called South by Southwest that happens every year during spring break. It started out as a little music conference designed to lure big record industry types to town with the promise of spicy food, cheap booze, and even cheaper bands. It worked. What was once a modest little dustup in a hotel down by the river is now one of the largest music festivals in the world. Every year in the middle of March, while all of the truly obnoxious college kids are down in South Padre getting sick on fluorescent-blue umbrella drinks and lifting their shirts for the Girls Gone Wild camera crew, thousands of black-clad, wristbanded culture vultures descend on Austin to feed on the fresh meat of the music industry – the poor saps who couldn’t raise the cash or friends to split a beach-front condo ten ways and were therefore relegated to doing something constructive with their downtime – like learning to play an instrument. Ironically, gaining proficiency in a musical instrument can lead to a lifetime of travel, shared hotel rooms, casual sex, drinking, and drugs – sort of like a spring break that lasts forever. It doesn’t, of course (unless you’re Keith Richards), and if you’re lucky, you’ll avoid all that craziness and be happy just buying a wristband once a year and reliving the times when you really rocked, figuratively or literally. If you’re already out of college and you still can’t afford a 10-way split on a beachfront condo in Padre, be thankful you live in Austin, because these days SXSW shares the love with a series of free outdoor concerts at Auditorium Shores. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday you can see big-name acts just like all the people who ponied up for a badge or a wristband and still be out in time to do the Sixth Street shuffle. Friday night offers a stellar if somewhat freaky lineup that includes Kris Kristofferson, Toots & the Maytals, Rachael Yamagata, Charlie Mars, and Joss Stone. Currently, only Kris and Toots have done duets with Willie Nelson, but they’re as far apart stylistically as Red Headed Stranger and Rainbow Connection. Chicago songwriter Yamagata has a duet with Toots on his last album, but none with Willie … yet. She and Oxford, Mississippi, songwriter Charlie Mars will be sitting in with Toots & the Maytals, offering an intriguing twist to Toots’ old-skool reggae. Joss Stone is surely on Willie’s “to duet” list, having scored a respectable hit with a bluesy cover of Harlan Howard’s country standard “The Chokin’ Kind” at the tender age of 16. Her voice has the soul and sensuality of someone twice her age, which is a nice fit for her latest album, a collection of Seventies soul classics and a few other tunes called, aptly enough, The Soul Sessions. Given the lineup, the crowd should be demographically diverse but pretty tame – especially considering the early hour and the fact that food, drink, pets, glass, umbrellas, or lawn chairs aren’t allowed. You might want to knock off work a little early to get primed and maybe blow up an air mattress or two. If blowing up an air mattress doesn’t get you in the SXSW spirit, nothing will.