Kate Galloway's Report from Day #2 of SXSW

Report number 2 from Kate. I was one of the lucky folks who got a live text message as she was rocking out to the Beastie Boys last night.


Mark Mallman and Kate Galloway

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"It seems like an entire week has gone by already. 6-7 hours of sleep sounds like a lot, but doesn't seem like much. In general, I'm really impressed with this year's festival. I'm not sure what's different, exactly, but it seems like it might be better organized. At any rate, I'm happy with everything so far.

Thursday was full of fun surprises for the lucky badge holders at SXSW. First, there was a secret, (I knew about it Tuesday), then not-so-secret Beastie Boys show at Stubb's on Thursday night at 7:15pm. The rumor was that it was supposed to be badges only, but when I got there they let about 100 lucky people with wristbands in. One guy came running in and was freaking out so much that he nearly knocked me over. But then we became buddies. That's just kind of how it goes around here. I was in a really bad mood up to that point. The Beastie Boys, even with the rough spots, was the best thing I'd seen yet. I was giddily dancing and taking endless photos, mini-videos, and haphazardly leaving voicemails to people, including my best friend from high school who I know is the only person in the world who totally gets why the Beasties were so important to me growing up. It was a hard act to follow.

The second "secret" that buzzed about was the appearance of The Flaming Lips at the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah show. Whenever you see "Special Guest" on an empty slot in the schedule, you can pretty much figure it's going to be someone totally awesome. The show was at Eternal on 6th Street, Aubry and Craig guesstimate the capacity at 600-700. Craig and Aubry even met Alec Ounsworth, the lead singer of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and there's a great picture too.

Perry Farrell apparently showed up somewhere and sang "Mountain Song" solo acoustic, which is sparking the next rumor that Jane's Addiction is supposed to play at some point too. No one has confirmed sightings of the rest of the band though.

Morrissey and Neil Young were the big draws at the Convention Center today.
People waited for 3.5 hours to get a good seat for the rare Neil Young interview. Morrissey wasn't quite as long of a wait. Our friend from New York, Matt Rocker, took a couple of great shots of Young getting interviewed outside of a hotel.

I was able to fit quite a few shows in and really didn't have the urge to go to any of the day parties. A fun stop in the middle of all the debauchery was the annual Minnesota Happy Hour at the Intercontinental Hotel. All sorts of people showed up and it was a nice intimate crowd. Always nice to see familiar faces and compare notes as to how the festival is going.

Mark Mallman put on a great show, of course. This time it was right where all the action was, and he was on the same bill as Eagles of Death Metal. Some of the acts I caught were Mates of State, Aqueduct, Rocky Votolato and Dresden Dolls. More to come tomorrow!!"