Riot Act @ SXSW on Thursday - Nathan's take

Thursday came up with tons of sun and tons of emails, wait I have to work on this work trip?

Yes, yes I do. After answering about a bazillion emails, Joan and I headed out to Jaime's Spanish Village for a lunch with all of you internet friends! Margarita and taco in hand, I proceeded to come across so many new faces that I can barely remember all their names. Sorry, I'm bad at that! It was a rad time and we wrapped up just in time to head over to Waterloo Records to catch Visqueen and Shellshag doing an interview and acoustic set in the Clear Wireless mobile studio.

Well, well, well google maps. You are full of shit. Joan and I proceeded to have the most lovely walk over Ladybird Johnson Lake where we saw turtles and all sorts of bird and then proceeded to some sort of strip mall where Waterloo Records most definitely was not. The temperature was climbing and I was burning, thankfully Joan had sunblock. We quickly realized, if you want to look cool in Austin, you've gotta wear shades and you've gotta know where you're going.

We arrived just in time to see Shellshag load into the green bus and take off. We laughed our butts off as we watched them translate their songs into an acoustic set on the big screen tvs in the parking lot. Shell even managed to unbuckle and throw some stage antics into the set.

It's hot, we've walked way too much and we need showers. Back to the hotel! Walk, walk, walk... which way is the hotel? Lost again!! We arrive at the hotel and we can either run to the KRS Showcase in sweat and pain or we can catch a break and go to dinner looking and smelling human again. We opt for the latter...

Dinner with friends from K Records at the cuban restaurant was fun and tasty! Paying $5 for lone star beers was a little bananas though. It was midwest flavor and alcohol content coupled with Pac Northwest prices, what?

It's now 9:00 and I'm yet to see a single band today. Still, when Davey Brozowski from Black Whales (in town playing percussion with Broken Bells) asks me if I want to grab a drink out of the mayhem, I can't resist. $4 for a 32 oz shiner bock, yes please! After relaxing for an hour or two, Davey has to head off to a private Broken Bells performance that I'm decidedly not invited to.

Walking down the strip of mayhem I saw a few truly horrible things that have no place here and I was fortunately whisked off by a friend to see Cubic Zirconia play a set in some loft space. MIA delivery with a live drummer, crammed into a tiny space. It was great... followed up by some average breakers and then, sleep. For a music festival, I didn't catch much music on Thursday.