Good news for music fans locked into working FOR THE MAN when they should be out celebrating the advent of spring and some of the hundreds of bands appearing at the SXSW festival in Austin, TX. NPR, yes those staid NPR folks, are broadcasting LIve! from Austin. Venues like this are in part what took the NPR head out earlier in the week, but I say go for it. Puzzles are fun and all, but they don't make you want to dance.What's nice about this coverage is that it's full of all the defulgities of a live show, including, not knowing when the next act is coming on stage, dealing with amp problems, wavering volume levels, and announcers who sound more like fans than pinheads.
So point your browser to npr music, crank up the speakers, and enjoy what you can. Local NPR affiliates are picking up where the national feed drops off. Right now we're enjoying the rocking sounds of Jonhathan Rice who says,
"We're all stuck out in the desert
and we're going to die!
Wipe that sand and salt
from your blistering eye."
Update 3/30/2008:You can read about what sxsw is really like from a musician who was there at the Wilder's On Tour blog.
brother phil testifies on sxsw
Photo by Jessica Byme