South by Southwest, for every attendee, is full of moments of revelry and revelation, disappointment and transcendent joy. This show didn’t rock me the hardest, and it certainly didn’t last the longest, but it was surely one of the rarest moments of serendipity I’ve experienced on the musical plane. Early Saturday afternoon, a companion and I were shoeing it from South Austin all the way up to Waterloo Park on the northeastern edge of downtown for the all-day Mess with Texas party. As it was a long journey, halfway I suggested we stop at my favorite little Austin coffeeshop/bar/lounge downtown—Halcyon—for a drink. I’d always loved the outdoor seating at Halcyon; the patio is part of the pedestrian throughway on 4th St., and it offers some of the best peoplewatching in town. We knew that South by crowds would render the seating pretty much nil, but we weren’t prepared for the crowd that was spilling out of the main entrance. We worked our way around to the side entrance, and I asked the familiar bartendress, “What’s the deal—who’s playing?” “M. Ward,” she says. Come again? “Uh, wow. When’s the show start?” (figuring it would be a wait). “Oh, five minutes or so.” Hot damn. There were maybe 100, 120 folks stuffed into the place, but my companion and I were able to squirm our way up to just about 15 feet from the stage, still a bit baffled that this was happening. (I’d last seen M. Ward at a quickly sold-out show at the Apollo Theater.) And then the man took the stage, masked behind windscreen-wide Ray Bans, and said, a little shyly, “How y’all doin’?” Well. Pretty goddamn well is how we’re doing, Mr. Ward, thanks for asking. And then he started right in on a set of familiar tunes in his sweet smoky lovelorn voice and warm river of guitar, expanding out into minutes-long acoustic expansions of songs that blended into others, mixing their rhythms and melodies, and then back again. Time didn’t so much stand still as expand outward until you were unaware of anything but the hypnotic strumming of M. Ward’s guitar. He played for only a short while, but afterward I still felt like I needed a post-coital cigarette.
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Oh I see. I was wondering if you were talking about the picture. Really glad you liked it. Have you checked her out yet?
by Colin on Sun Mar 14, 2010 at 02.29 pm from the entry: Interview - Kelli Schaefer (Portland, OR; Winter, 2010)
yes! The interview is great, and the photo shows off the glow
by Ian on Sun Mar 14, 2010 at 01.29 pm from the entry: Interview - Kelli Schaefer (Portland, OR; Winter, 2010)
Great post! Really digging the new record a lot. The Rainwater LP has some gorgeous moments - definitely recommend checking it out. There are 3 of the new songs up on the myspace page: myspace.com/citizencope
by MattKlomp on Sun Mar 14, 2010 at 03.16 am from the entry: Citizen Cope - Paradise Theater (Boston, MA; Feb. 27, 2010 )
haha is that a compliment?
by colin on Sat Mar 13, 2010 at 06.49 pm from the entry: Interview - Kelli Schaefer (Portland, OR; Winter, 2010)
love that melophobe has more “couples” reviewers, and more “Ian/Ion/Ian/Iain” than the average site…
by Ian on Sat Mar 13, 2010 at 06.48 pm from the entry: sevendust + drowning pool + digital summer + the flood - showbox market (seattle, WA; Mar 07, 2010
you’re positively glowing in this interview, Colin
by Ian on Sat Mar 13, 2010 at 06.46 pm from the entry: Interview - Kelli Schaefer (Portland, OR; Winter, 2010)
Hey Merseilles did a live web show at sonicbirds office gig on Friday that was pretty spectacular. Can anyone find a copy of that?
by Smallweed on Sat Mar 13, 2010 at 11.40 am from the entry: SXSW Send Off Show - Visqueen + Hey Marseilles - Neumos (Seattle, WA; Mar. 5, 2010)
succinct review! amazing soul! fusions of moments that come and go and come ‘round again: the holy grail of Americana!
_ long-time fan. Matt is right up there with Lennon for me.
Funny, his birthday is the day AFTER John Lennon’s
‘Grok’ that! Being a Libra also, I now wonder no more. lol.
And did you hear Howe Gelb’s empirical discussion on NPR recently?