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SXSW and Friends

Yeah, I’m one of those Austinites who came here _¡ all the way back in 1992 _¡ and I was sick of “SouthBy” before it even started last week. You wouldn’t believe how many skinny boys in pencil jeans with 80’s hairdos were wandering around downtown yesterday evening looking so much cooler than me. Still, if you are doing that kind of thing this weekend I am obliged to recommend some shows that friends are involved in that are noteworthy.

The kid who taught me how to beat¹ Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out is all grown up and playing “four-string guitar” for Chris Denny who is in the Billboard showcase tonight. Denny is, also, on the new cover of Billboard magazine which some might say is a pretty big deal. If you go to the showcase, throw your panties or boxers at this guy on the right.

Wednesday night I attended a screening hosted by Chicken Ranch Records — run by my college radio buddy, Mike Dickinson — of J.D. Wilkes’s premiere film Seven Signs. It’s a top notch indie doc that is a perfect parallel to the eclectic kind of neo-anything-revival bands that Mike likes to sign. His regular showcases have already happened, but you can still catch his day party at Bull McCabes tomorrow from 1-5pm.

¹ This lesson on the original 8-bit NES set the stage for learning patterns in a way that I previously had never seen/grasped in video games. If not for the young Chris Atwood, I would never have completed future Zelda, Mario and other games…much to my wife’s chagrin.