SxSW Day 7

Thursday, March 15

Panel

Keynote: Bruce Springsteen

Having gone to college in Bergen County, NJ, in the early 80's, I feel like I've listened to more Springsteen than anyone should have to in one lifetime. As a result, I made no attempt to enter the badge holder lottery to see him play at ACL Live. However, I did go to his keynote.

As I entered the Ballroom, there seemed to be additional security in place to insure no one filmed the speech. Things seemed very heavy handed, in comparison to other keynotes that I have attended. When Bruce took the stage, I found his speech nervous and stilted. I'm not sure what, if anything, I got out of it.

SxSW Interview: Ann and Nancy Wilson

Later in the day, I went to see the Wilson sisters interviewed. This was a nice complement to the show I had seen last year, when Heart came through town.

Day Party - Israeli Music

I stared off the evening of music, over at the Brushy Creek Park, and walked into the Israeli Music Party. There was a very good band on stage, featuring a female lead singer with a very powerful voice. Unfortunately, I could not find out the name of the band.

Zenzile at the Loft

One of the friends that I made at TOAPP Camp this past summer, was a French born, bassist from Houston, Cedric Theys. Cedric recently moved to Austin, and was helping and hosting a band from France called Zenzile. He asked me to go, but I must say that this didn't make them any less fantastic.

Zenzile was an amazing Dub Step band, with a very charismatic, female lead singer. The set went by way too quickly, and I will be touching base with Cedric, to check on their progress.

Woodie Guthrie Centennial at St David's Bethell Hall

After Zenzile, I headed over to Bethell Hall, and caught 4 segments of the Woodie Guthrie Centennial celebration. Each musician and/or singer performed for approximately 15 minutes. I stayed for about an hour and saw:

• Carrie Rodriguez
• Ray Benson
• Lila Downs
• Michael Fracassa

It was nice hearing this music in such a wonderful listening space. This hall is a treasure.

I continued over to the other section of St. David's, the Sanctuary, but did not really enjoy the band from Montreal, Little Scream, all that much.

18th Floor at the Hilton Garden

The 18th Floor is another SxSW venue that I like to hit, because it seems to draw smaller crowds, and I often hear good bands there. Surprisingly, the crowd was very thin, even for this venue.

The iphone was not up to the task of taking photos in low light, provided by red and purple gels, so I don't have any pictures to show from this part of the evening. I heard two very good acts:

• Charlene Soraia - a singer songwriter from London, with a very strong voice, who accompanied herself on acoustic guitar
  
• Lily and the Parlour Tricks - a band from NYC fronted by three female vocalists, who did exceptional multi-part harmonies.
  

---