SXSWesting and Musket

We had a great first day at the annual music conference here in Austin.  The weather turned gorgeous after a few days of gray rainy ones, perfect timing for the mindless masses celebrating a Texas style St. Patty's day and the kick off to the biggest baddest music shindig of them all.  Highlights of my day including an excellent session on mastering led by the infamous Bob Ludwig and special one on one mentoring session with Maggie from Kill Rock Stars.

After the early day sessions we headed over to Third Man Records supremely fun pop up store at Frank's where they had "Texas sized" records for sale in 8" and 13" varietals.  The store was chock full of tasty goodness including requiste I Love Jack and I Love Meg buttons and extremely beautiful White Stripes poster that I will proudly hang in New London as a souvenir of our trip.  The also had a Third Man branding station though we weren't quite drunk enough to have ourselves marked for the team just yet!

After a banging meal at Frank's we headed south to Taco Maria's to see our good friends Avi and Celia perform a blistering set under the new moniker Hey Momma!  These two are as good as it gets playing their inspired blues - Avi ripping it on guitar and backing vox and Celia just blowing away the crowd with one of the best sets of pipes around.  They had the crowd from the get-go and never let them off the hook.  The margaritas were flowing pretty nicely at happy hour as well - just saying.  It was great to see Miss Tess and the bon Ton Parade in the crowd as welll.

The night wrapped up sweetly at Stubb's for NPR's excellent first night party/showcase featuring The Walkmen,   Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Broken Bells and Spoon.   The Walkmen were a revelatory surprise after listening to them for years but never seeing them live.  Great stuff indeed.  Sharon Jones was the win though for sure - blowing the doors of the place with the Dap Kings.  Broken Bells played a straight set of their new record and just nailed it.  And, well, Spoon was Spoon.  Such a great way to kick off the madness.  On the docket for today: a little Smokey Robinson, Rogue Wave and Broken Social Scene among many other surprises I'm sure.