Trouser Press @ SXSW 2012

Outside of wondering if any of y'all are coming, I've noticed a nice contingent of TP bands this year:

Bob Mould (including a free day show in which he'll play Copper Blue in its entirety)
The dB's, plus a Chris Stamey solo gig
The Jesus & Mary Chain
Tommy Stinson
R. Stevie Moore
The Wedding Present (including a gig where they're gonna play Seamonsters in its entirety)
Paul Collins & Peter Case (playing Beat, Plimsouls, Nerves and Breakaways songs)
Cotton Mather
Jesse Malin of D Generation
Grant Hart
The Black Watch
Kid Congo Powers
Pat Todd & the Rankoutsiders (AKA the Lazy Cowgirls)
Alejandro Escovedo
Brendan Benson
Built to Spill

Not to mention newer bands who would no doubt be in a future edition of TP:
Cloud Nothings
The War On Drugs
Cheap Girls
Biters
Motopony
The Ettes
Screaming Females
Bare Wires
New Roman Times
Whirr
Bad Sports

And for those go back further:
Garland Jeffreys

And those are only the bands on my radar - there may be more.

Anyone interested in seeing Wussy at SXSW and giving a report? (yeah, yeah, let's leave their crappy name alone) I would be grateful.



Post Edited (03-12-12 11:27)

There's also this. . . Almost could make me travel 2000 miles to stand around in a room with a bunch of industry knobs and self-conscious music journalists.
(*Almost,* I said.)

"Also at the Paramount, on Thursday, March 15, we will present a work-in-progress screening of Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me, a documentary celebration of the Big Star legacy, which will be followed by a complete performance of the band’s seminal album, "Third", by an all-star collective of musicians. This performance is presented by GSD&M.

Guests will include Jody Stephens of Big Star on drums; Mike Mills of R.E.M. on bass; Mitch Easter of Let’s Active and Chris Stamey on guitars; Charles Cleaver on piano; and for this performance, guest guitarists Peter Buck of R.E.M. Tommy Stinson of the Replacements, and Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow of the Posies. Austin’s GSD&M is the show’s executive producer in conjunction with SXSW and High Road Touring.

The Big Star screening and performance event will also be open to all SXSW Film, Music, Gold and Platinum Badge holders, as well as SXSW Film Passes and Music Wristbands. The screening will begin at 7:00pm, followed by a Q&A at 8:40pm, and performance starting at 9:00pm."

I didn't see this - I was assigned the Jesus & Mary Chain show instead (OK, I begged for it, but whatever.)

But I did see a "Big Star jam" the next day on the patio of the bar Gingerman. Jody Stephens, Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer joined by Peter Buck, John Doe, Robert Harrison and Whit Williams of Cotton Mather, the singer from Blitzen Trapper, the singer for the Latebirds and some (relative) kids from some young bands whose names I didn't catch. Mostly stuff from the first 2 albums, since Sister Lovers was covered the night before. Hit or miss, as jams tend to be, but some moments - like a transcendent "When My Baby's Beside Me" - were truly magical.

You know, he said wistfully, thinking back a good number of years, to a time when SXSW was fun, and easy to attend....my band Utensil played a live karaoke show there to promote the last TP book...it was a blast, and we had such onstage accomplices as Lisa Loeb, Elliot Easton, Mark Eitzel, Tim Stegall.... and many other fine folk. Anyway, the point of the story is that I brought and hung a custom-made Trouser Press banner on the stage, and neglected to retrieve it in the giddy aftermath of our musical triumph. (Alcohol may have been involved. I can't recall.) Upon returning home to NYC and discovering that the banner had been left behind, I spent many an hour calling, writing and otherwise endeavoring to retrieve that museum-quality piece of TP arcana. I was promised several times that it would be sent back, I think I even tried to have someone go around to the club and fetch it for me in person. No luck. So if you anyone who's in Austin this week comes across a blue cloth banner, maybe 3 by 5 feet, with the name Trouser Press sewn on in yellow, I'd really like to have it back.