SXSW2001 Day Three - Sunday, March 11
"I don't come to watch
movies. I come for the beer, the alcohol and the tits!"
- Jerry Don Clark, star of "Rock Opera," on film festivals
I spent most of Sunday sleeping, recuperating from
7 films in two days. I watched
the Fox TV Sunday night stuff and then took another
nap. I was beat. At 9 o'clock, I headed over to the
Dobie for the music video showcase. I saw Bob Ray milling
around outside but didn't get a chance to say howdy.
When I got into the theater, there was Bob and Jerry
Don Clark, aka Toe from "Rock
Opera," and then Oriah and Mike from Hobble. Hobble's
video for "Double Wide" had been accepted into the music
video thing, even though they never got a showcase to
play live with SXSW. This is an example of what a piece
of shit SXSW is. I have seen a lot of live bands in
my day and none have put on the show Hobble puts on.
Does anyone at SXSW ever go see live shows in town the
other 51 weeks of the year?
|
Anyway, I made intros all around and Bob and
Jerry said really nice things about Hobble's video,
which the guitarist Mike Flaten directed. Oriah
passed out a few free CD's and we sat around chatting
for 20 minutes before the show started. Jerry
is one of the truly nicest and most fun-loving
people you will ever meet as is Oriah. Everyone
seemed to hit it off. Somehow, Oriah's past desire
to survive a plane crash came into the conversation.
Oh, I remember - it was when Jerry talked about
how cool it would be to die in a plane crash on
the way to a film festival where your movie was
showing. That would surely be the way to make
it an instant must-see film! Anyway, films like
"Fearless" came up and then Jeff Bridges was mentioned
and Oriah had said he had seen "Tron" on cable
the night before. Then Jerry told us that he supposedly
met "The Dude" who Jeff Bridges' character in
"The Big Lebowski" is based on. "The Dude" is
pals with Harry Knowles, I believe, so I have
no doubt that Jerry has indeed met him somewhere
here in town.
Anyway - on to the video showcase which, I think,
Bob Ray had a lot to do with. What follows is
sort of a video by video list and my feelings
about each. SXSW did a nice thing and left the
name of the band, the song, and the director up
during the entire run time of the video.
|
Bob
Ray Introduces the Music Video Selections.
|
Kissinger - "Rock'N'Roll Asshole - direct by Chris
Roldan: In the video, the guys from the band commandeer
a grocery store and play a song over the loudspeaker.
The lead singer is super-thin and extremely hot. The
song is pretty good and the band reminded me of Primal
Scream. It was shot in B&W. Kissinger is supposed to
be the new "in" band in Austin.
Murder City Devils - "Idle Hands" - directed by
Nate Manny: This video wasn't all that interesting
to me until I snapped to what it was about. The video
has a lot of "club" performance type shots of the band
intercut with a girl getting made-up at a mirror. The
girl puts on a Eno-esque feathered glam jacket and in
later shot we realize it's a young man and not a girl
at all. He walks down the street and some rednecks laugh
at him but otherwise do not bother him (which was nice,
no deep message about gaybashing or anything just a
bit of typical taunting) then he goes into the club
where the Devils are performing and the lead singer
hands him flowers as the last note reverberates and
the video fades. Very nice. The video had a really good
use of color. I couldn't tell you a thing about the
band or the song however.
Sam I Am - "Mud Hill" - directed by Darden Doane:
Kind of typical but nice B&W video where the lead
singer sits in a restaurant and reads a break-up note
from his lover. As he sings, several couples in love
enter and begin to take over the restaurant while he
sits in the corner. Much making out ensues. Even a lesbian
couple appear although they don't seem to be shown making
out. Since the lead singer was fat, bands like Smashmouth
and Pere Ubu came to mind.
|
SXSW
at "The Alamo Draft House".
|
The Yo-Yo's - "Time of Your life" - directed
by Lance Bangs: Typical concert vid from a
band that appears to be attempting to be the new
Clash. They also reminded me of The Plimsouls
and Social Distortion. This was one of a few videos
where the band was better than the video.
Heather Duby - "Judith" - direct by Sean Mennie:
A really nice vid from a really awesome talent.
Of all the artists I saw, this was one of the
few I would probably run right out and buy the
CD if I had the cash. Duby has a really nice voice
and the song was beautiful. The video featured
a cool elevator set that was all polished silver.
Duby reminded me a bit of PJ Harvey, but much
prettier and more sultry.
Park Bench - "Everything Kills Me" - directed
by Park Bench: A rather off video where the
cute lead singer, who is also kinda dorky (we
know how I like dorky guys), puts on a weird jumpsuit
and goes out. In his imagination, he goes to a
nightclub and a cute girl comes and protects him,
turning his B&W jumpsuit into color. In reality,
in scenes shot in B&W, the lead singer goes to
a park in the silly looking outfit and tries to
play ball with some kids, who leave him, while
the girl of his fantasy looks at him from the
park bench (wow - cool - irony or...) and sneers.
The song was a bit Deftones but more poppy.
It amazed me that Bob Ray picked so many videos
that were cool and not full of big titted women.
I was beginning to be surprised but, well, you'll
see...
|
Dandy Warhols - "Godless" - directed by Chris Anthony:
Probably the best video of the bunch. An amazing song
and a unique video to sell it. The Dandy's play in a
club where a gay looking guy does the Hula-Hoop in slo-mo
really well. It's beautiful to look at and the slo-mo
accentuates the lovely slow song. The video uses really
long takes that also feature a wonderful shot of a beautiful
young woman with a bruised lip. Everything about this
clip worked. And the song, which seemed to riff off
of George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" (which a court
has decided ripped-off The Chiffon's "He's So Fine")
is really beautiful. I've heard some of the Dandy's
stuff and really like them.
St. Etienne - "How We Used to Live" - directed
by Mikey Tomkins: I really liked this video though
I could hear the crowd was a bit restless during the
playing of it. The song is really interesting as it
begins like a slow mod ballad, sort of like the Style
Council or Air, then evolves into a more dance beat
oriented tune, like others I've heard by Etienne. Then
it changes yet again into a sort of slow jazz epilogue.
It's a really lovely tune. The video is rather slow
but beautifully accentuates the song with images of
empty spaces, by that I mean people-less spaces, in
slow, short shots that are slowly zooming in. These
segue one into the next with a bit of black between.
Many of these images have a real mod 50's or 60's feel
to them - like images of an old slot machine. Then,
during the dance portion, we see the pretty singer of
the song on stage at an abandoned club, using the same
style of editing as before. And then finally, during
the jazzy ending, the camera goes outside, more to a
seaside area, and continues in the same style of image
dissolves. Very beautiful. Another CD I would buy given
the chance.
Hobble - Double Wide - directed by Mike Flaten:
A wonderful video and a nice change of pace from St.
Etienne. Oriah, lead sing of the band, dons fake sideburns
and fro as well as rollerskates and moves all over Austin
as the bands instrumental from their first CD "Wrec-kids"
plays. Oriah is funny and the video is cool. There is
nice forward momentum and really nice editing work in
the piece. Oriah is a great actor, by the way.
Nashville Pussy - "Fried Chicken and Coffee" -
directed by Bob Ray: Hey, if you were going to program
videos for SXSW, wouldn't you put your own work in?
Fuck yeah. I love this song from the "Rock Opera" soundtrack
and Ray uses images from his own film coupled with a
stage performance, including a lot of big-titted women
in bikinis. Sure it's exploitive - but it's fun! The
song always reminds me of Iggy's "I Snub You" from 1980's
"Soldier" album.
|
Gluecifer - "I Got a War" - directed by Kajsa
Naese: Really dull footage of the band playing
(with their own Gluecifer banner in the background)
is intercut with shots of a real hockey game.
The music was typical rock and the fat lead singer
yet again reminded me of Smashmouth.
The Weakerthans - "Watermark" - directed by
Caleum Vatnsdal and Simon Hughes: Typical
images in a screen cut into boxes. A cool effect
using a blue mosaic tile wall as background was
effective.
Alice Cooper - "Gimme" - directed by Simon
Hilton: A real surprise! This was an awesome
Alice song and video. I liked it a lot. In the
vid, which plays wonderfully off the song's lyrics,
Alice sings to a bunch of Goth rock fanboys, spouting
lines likes "I'm on your side, sincerely" and
"I'm the only one that cares" in a mock understanding
of what it is that drives young boys and girls
to admire bands like Marilyn Manson and other
Goth rockers. There are several pixilated shots
that work well with cool images of snakes and
spiders which one would expect (and in fact want)
in an Alice Cooper video. The song reminded me
of Alice's "Special Forces" album (circa '80 or
'81) for some reason. And the end is "the bomb"
with Alice turning the fan boys into N'Sync and
then blowing them up. Yes! The audience applauded
wildly to that image.
Dice Raw - "Thin Line" - directed by One Infinity:
Cool animation of the style you used to see on
MTV's "Liquid Television" can't really save this
retro, old-school rap song about, well, old-school
rap. Rather pointless.
|
Bob
Ray
|
Black Label Society - "Counterfeit God" - directed
by Dave Kister: Really the most silly and worthless
video of the night. A long haired hippie type and a
shaven-headed goatee- wearing type sing stupid lines
about bowing down before a God. The actors were also
members of the band, which sounded like a tired Monster
Magnet, Alice in Chains, Sabbath wannabee group. Why
Bob, Why?
Marz - "In the Mud" - directed by Doug Freel: Many
people scoffed at this white rapper but when he delivered
the hilarious line, "I've got a 6-pack and candle wax
in the back of my Cadilac," I knew he was in on the
joke. The band all wore the same red outfit (Devo?)
and played while the set burned in a computer generated
fire. Eventually the lead singer allowed himself to
be covered in mud by a naked woman and showed his chest.
The song was funny and, well, I liked it. Sue me.
Califone - "Electric Fence" - directed by Jay Eckensberger:
An example of a video not fitting into the program
and also a video where the avant-garde images accentuated
the lackadaisical song. Still, this came across as rather
dull. The images were unique - but not really good,
just different. The band reminded me of Throbbing Gristle
or Bauhaus.
Farmer Boys - "Here Comes the Pain" - directed
by Nick Lyon: A really awesome video with an unusual
look. If you can imagine it, it sort of looked like
computer generated claymation. The sad thing was, the
music was just Godawful heavy metal. Impossible to tolerate.
Why did Lyon waste such a cool innovation on such a
terrible band? It begins, by the way, with Jesus on
the cross using the F-word.
At the Drive-In - One-Armed Scissor - directed
by At the Drive-In: You've seen it on MTV. The boys
are from San Antonio and the song kicks ass! This one
was probably accepted to SXSW before the band got huge.
Still cool to see the vid.
So - my top 3 videos:
(Note: Hobble
is excluded because I know them!)
1) Dandy
Warhols - Godless
2) St. Etienne - How We Used to Live
3) Heather Duby - Judith
And the top 3 songs (i.e. CD's I want to buy):
1) St.
Etienne - How We Used to Live
2) Heather
Duby - Judith
3) Kissinger - Rock'n'Roll Asshole
I left the Dobie quickly because I only had 20 minutes
to get to the Alamo Drafthouse for "Super
Troopers." I ran into Karrie League, co-owner of
the Alamo with her husband who was chatting with Marjorie
Baumgarten of the Austin Chronicle. Karrie gave me good
news and bad news.
Good - She and her husband Tim are almost done with
the deal to lease the Village 4 Cinema with hopes of
turning it into another Alamo on the north side. Daniel
of the Alamo staff told me they would show first run
movies (i.e. new movies) there.
Bad - Well, bad for me, anyway. That afternoon, Sunday,
Karrie had seen Richard Linklater's "Waking Life" at
the Paramount in a screening that was for cast and crew.
I cannot believe no one told me about this! I am so
fucking angry. You know, I wanted to see this because
it's cool and it's the new Linklater and I've interviewed
Wiley and I've been hearing about the film forever.
But even more than all that. My late friend John Christensen
is in the film and I am dying to see how much screen
time he gets. This film is John's swansong and I need
to see it - to see he is honored, to feel the rush of
his beautiful presence one last time. It hurts me that
I know so many people in this town (and I'm sure many
of them were at the screening) and not one of them told
me about it. There are some folks I will never forgive.
Lodger2001 @ SXSW2001
Lodger's SXSW
Wish List
SXSW Preview!
Pre-SXSW Rumors and
News Page
|
