A Sweet at the Hyatt
Got things rolling a little late today, popping over to the Hyatt around lunchtime to chat with Matthew Sweet, who as you know is headlining the free outdoor show at Waterloo Park today thanks to the Jim Beam people, who have been trotting out the prince of pop (not to imply any relation between him and Michael Jackson) to tout their new program offering grants to needy musicians. Sweet says he figures he’s the perfect spokesman, because if this sort of opportunity had been offered in the Eighties, “I’m totally the kind of person who would’ve wanted to get the grant!” Sweet’s totally sold on the liquor giant’s sincerity, and it’s certainly nigh on impossible not to be sold on his in turn. Given that those awarded the grants don’t even have to display a tacky banner bearing the Beam name at their gigs, it seems like an honest interest in new music is driving the enterprise. As I said recently when reporting that local India Taylor was the latest grant recipient, bands who wish to apply should check out www.jimbeam.com, write B.E.A.M. at PO Box 4723, NY, NY 10163-4723, or visit the company’s South by Southwest trade show booth. As far as SXSW favorites, Sweet arrived in town on Tuesday, but was still recovering from his last tour and just gearing up to start investigating the week’s music as of yesterday. Since he’s got a track on the upcoming Kinks/Ray Davies tribute album due later this year, he was crushed to realize that he would’ve had a chance to see Davies’ SXSW keynote address if he’d inspected the book of events that came with his SXSW badge. Ah, well, Matthew will be working on a Brian Wilson tribute program for the TNT network on March 29, with the likes of Elton John, Billy Joel, Sweet mates Aimee Mann and Michael Penn, and of course the Beach Boy himself, so that should assuage his bum-out. Next from the currently label-less (and loving it) Sweet, look for a book on one of his favorite pop culture phenomena — “big-eyed kid” art.
It’s A-Happening (Or Not)
Among the amusing moments on Thursday night: the louder-than-ever sounds coming from the Jurassic 5 at Stubb’s. There was a beautiful irony to the thunderous peal of “Fuck ya Volvo!” setting off car alarms a block away from the venue. Sort of like a hip-hop variation on the Flaming Lips’ parking lot experiment — but not really… There were tragedies, too; “they shut the bar down before the Asylum Street Spankers got offstage!” wailed a grieving Wammo the afternoon following the band’s showcase at the Texas Union Theatre. No word on whether his earlier solo performance had anything to do with that… And say what you will about SXSW, but at least they know how to make the bands run on time. At the non-SXSW showcase my combo played, things ran over an hour behind, and the P.A. was of, shall we say, less-than-stellar quality. Both Daniel Johnston and Eddie Muñoz were kind enough to attend, and though to me both are just “regular guys,” one of the Stummies, the trashy Eighties cover band who preceded us onstage, took a bit of the vapors on realizing a member of the Plimsouls had been in the audience. (Okay, that scene in Valley Girl was admittedly pretty impressive)… Among the real celebrity spottings, there was producer Rick Rubin at Thursday’s Paloalto showcase at La Zona Rosa (where he was being referred to as “Weirdbeard”), and two of the three brothers from Hanson spotted roaming the halls of the Convention Center… In the “only trying to help” department, one Chronicle staffer was seen trying to aid a talent scout for boy bands by telling him to attend the showcase by Austin’s Schrödinger’s Cat, only to remember after an exhaustive search that the handsome a cappella lads didn’t have a SXSW showcase… Oh, and before we get too far off the subject of cult teen movies, among the swag I picked up at the trade show was a bottle opener with the logo for American Pie 2. There’s gonna be a sequel? Jeez, what are they planning to do to top the original — have the guy sodomize the pie???… It wouldn’t be Austin without protests, and this SXSW’s was an interesting one, in the form of angry citizens handing out leaflets decrying the Gibson guitar company for allegedly assembling their instruments using mahogany stripped from the rainforests of Latin America. That reminds me of the line from the Young Ones‘ Neil as he examined the stage dressing during his appearance doing “Hole in My Shoe” on Top of the Pops: “Oh, my God! These flowers are made of paper! How many trees had to die to make these flowers?!?”… Don’t know if the Latino acts at the Living Room and the Drink on Thursday night were using Gibson guitars, but they drew the highest percentage of people without wristbands seeking single-show entry at the conference so far. One SXSW rep says things were hairy for a bit, but it seemed that pretty much everyone who hung in there managed to gain entry… A Heroes of the Music Festival list this year would have to include San Diego punkeroos the Locust. After a van breakdown made Baltimore’s The Convocation Of… miss their 10pm Wednesday showcase at Emo’s by three hours, the Locust blazed through 20 songs in 20 minutes for their 1am slot, leaving enough time for the late Maryland band to do their thing before closing time… For the first entry this year in “Dancing”‘s Fastball watch(!), I didn’t hear about anything particularly newsworthy concerning the band’s actual showcase at Stubb’s, but on Thursday night, none other than the estimable Conan O’Brien was seen singing and playing their hit “The Way” on a segment of his Late Night program in which he visits Ireland. I missed it myself, but I have seen a Miles Zuniga home video of the former Simpsons scribe practicing the tune in the halls of NBC, so I pretty much get the picture… The Peenbeets get the prize for most diverse radio exposure via an interview by NPR and a song played on this week’s Dr. Demento show. I’m told that the good Doctor will be dropping in on Larry Monroe at KUT-FM tonight, so turn the dial toward that for totally twisted tuneage. To end on a serious downer, here’s a last-minute newsflash: On my way to the Chronicle news complex to report tonight’s music update, the story came in over the wire (i.e., the car radio in my old Mazda) that the CSC corporation, the massive high tech firm whose deal with the city of Austin is responsible for the demolition of Liberty Lunch and the general wreckage that is much of current downtown Austin, announced that they will be laying off between 700 and 900 workers due to the current economic climate. The company’s representative, speaking from their headquarters in El Segundo, California, did not say how many of the firm’s approximately 1,000 Austin employees would be let go.
This article appears in March 16 • 2001.