I had a dream last night that I was back in Austin, enjoying good music with good friends, on a boat in Lady Bird Lake, no less.

Then a tornado hit. I’m taking that as a sign to continue chronicling my travels on my sorely neglected blog, so I can write about events that are more… current.

So back to where we left off: the film and music portions of South by Southwest in Austin, TX.

SXSW Film: March 12-20

I didn’t get the opportunity to catch very many films, but I made it a point to see several documentaries, one of which was Under Great White Northern Lights, a film about The White Stripes and their Canadian tour that I previously blogged about. You can read about my takeaways from that film there.

The Radiant Child, about artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, was a film my late friend Justin was also interested in seeing. The Sunday before he passed, Justin reminded me to tell him my thoughts on this film after seeing it. Well Justin… it was fascinating to see rare footage of Basquiat in action, and tragic to see and hear about his life spiral downwards to his eventual passing. And I loved the film’s opening credits… interview outtakes and manic footage of Basquiat paired with “Salt Peanuts” as the soundtrack.

The screening was on the last Saturday of the festival, and I’m so glad I fought off festival fatigue to see it. Director Tamra Davis, an old friend of Basquiat’s (and yeah, Mike D’s wifey) was on hand for a Q&A session, too.

I also attended a live interview with Michel Gondry, the man behind films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (one of my favorites) and music videos from Björk, Beastie Boys, The White Stripes, and Foo Fighters. The following night, I saw his film The Thorn in the Heart, which chronicles the life of his aunt Suzette in the French countryside. Though the subject matter was nonfiction, some of his whimsical filmmaking found its way onto the screen.

SXSW Music: March 17 (more from Music to come)

SXSW Music kicked off on St. Patrick’s Day, which is brilliant timing—as though SXSW wasn’t occasion enough for revelers to hit up Austin’s pubs. That day, I caught word through Twitter that Broken Bells was doing a free, open-to-the-public, AOL-sponsored gig at the parking garage across from Stubb’s BBQ. Not knowing where else to go with my SXSW pass-less friend Stefanie, we made our way over there. We had just eaten gyro sandwiches for lunch, but as we stood in line in the afternoon sun, an Ice Cream Man truck pulled to the curb. What perfect timing!

The funny part was after the gig, it hit me that Broken Bells was on the National Public Radio showcase lineup, which I was attending, so I ended up seeing them twice the same day. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. They had a few good songs, but they’re not a band I was extremely enthusiastic about seeing twice.

Obviously, the highlight for me that night at the NPR showcase wasn’t Broken Bells. Neither were Visqueen or The Walkmen, who are fine bands. And though I (and many other people there, I assume) was there for headliners and Austin locals Spoon, the performance that really got us pumped was Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. Da-yum. Her moves. Her energy. Her voice. Their music. So much power. You had to have been there to feel the reciprocated energy from the crowd that night. We loved her.

I’m so glad I got this moment on camera. That fan was standing a few people behind me and so enthusiastic, no wonder Sharon brought him onstage! I hope he finds this video!

Broken Bells’ set list of songs was in the exact order they appear on their one and only album, so as we were waiting for Spoon to come on, the guy next to me on the barrier, a big Spoon fan, sarcastically said that Spoon better play the entire Kill the Moonlight record in order or he’ll leave.

Spoon came onstage about a quarter after midnight. I didn’t care if my feet hurt from standing all night. We were seeing, swaying, and singing along with Spoon in the flesh.

A comment from SXSW that will always bug me
A few days later on the shuttle to the convention center, this guy told me how he loved Broken Bells but thought Spoon was trying too hard to sound like Radiohead. Really? Did you just namedrop Radiohead just to make yourself sound smart? Because I don’t know about you, but either he had his bands confused, or was just straight-up confused. Because Spoon sounds nothing like Radiohead. They sound like… Spoon. Quality poppy-funky-indie-rock goodness.

More, ahem, “musings” from SXSW Music to come…

Related photos: