A report from Kate Galloway at SXSW

What follows are highlights of the 1st day of SXSW courtesy of Kate Galloway of Vamp Music Source, in her own words:

-- I had my first Whataburger (They're not that good, although there is literally one every mile on the road between Dallas and Austin.)

-- I missed Mallman's first show because I had to wait an hour and a half in line to get a badge.

-- First show of the day: David Lowry & Johnny Hickman of Cracker (Excellent acoustic "Eurotrash Girl" and a cover of Ike Reilly's "Duty Free.")

-- Saw Ken Stringfellow and Matt Pinfield hanging out at a sushi joint we went to for dinner.

-- Caught Dolorean at Maggie Mae's, then was going to leave to go catch a new client, but everyone kept saying, "You've got to stay for Smoosh." Smoosh? What the fuck is Smoosh? Two little girls playing indie rock (10 and 12 years old.) One's a drummer, the other a pianist with a voice like Harriet Wheeler from The Sundays. Absolutely intriguing. Apparently they're getting loads of press from the likes of NBC and others, and I heard someone say they opened for Pearl Jam. Would make sense since they're from Seattle. Maybe they're really well known already, and I'm just totally out of the loop.

-- Saw The Ocean Blue [featuring Peter Anderson on drums.] They sounded great, but you gotta wonder: when did they have time to practice? Didn't really matter, ‘cause they never missed a beat.

-- Anna Lee [of Voltage: Fashion Amplified] Dave Russ, Mick Spence and Sonya Southward [all of the Minnesota Music Academy] all stayed and hung out there for a bit, then tried to get in to see Billy Idol with no luck. Tried to get into Sleater Kinney, no luck. Then they said, FUCK IT and went to see Mallman.

-- Craig [Grossman of Vamp Music Source] and I headed over to see new Future Farmer Records clients of ours Jet By Day and Built Like Alaska who were completely awesome. We found out David Dondero was going to be playing there also at 1am, so we had just enough time to run over to catch the last 20 minutes of Mallman's set, then go back. Mallman's set was absolutely amazing. There's something about seeing him out of his Minneapolis element that makes you appreciate him all the more. He was unstoppable with his onstage antics. At one point Craig and Anna noted that he started doing this cross-eyed Buddy Hackett-ish thing while singing. It was cool.

-- So, I looked for Craig shortly after the Mallman set so we could go back. Couldn't find him, when all of a sudden got a phone call from him. He was at the show none of us thought we'd get in to: Elvis Costello at La Zona Rosa. He said there was plenty of room and no waiting, so I grabbed Christy Hunt from Ouija Radio and we went over there. It was very cool. Anna, Dave, Sonya, Charles [Gehr of Ouija Radio] and Ryan Smith [of the Melismatics] showed up soon after.