SXSW Diary: Day 1 FISH TACOS ARE BETTER THAN NEIL YOUNG
by Jamie Stellini & Jessie Murphy

Jamie Stellini, of NY band The Love, takes us street level for the SXSW Festival.

Fresh off of JetBlue flight 1069, at 12:12am, on Friday March 17th, my bandmate, Jessie Murphy, and I got our first taste of fresh Texan air. The verdict? Delicious. 12 hours later at a fast food delicatessen (whoever heard of such a thing?) we got our first Texan meal. The verdict? Less delicious. But the cuisine steadily improved from there. In fact, I had some of the best fish tacos of my life in Austin – and that’s no small feat for a part-time dyke with a discerning palette. Later that evening, we would experience our first brush with fish taco greatness somewhere in East Austin at an unassuming little taco hut. The young and fleshy Mexican woman behind the counter took quite a shine to my cohort and many jokes were made concerning the deliciousness of her “Fish Taco.” Fish tacos and the enjoyment of them are very popular in Austin.

Back to chronology! After our tasteless breakfast, we rushed back to our suite at the Red Roof Inn and practiced diligently for the Neil Young tribute. I gleefully strummed through conjurings of “knights in armor” and “mother nature’s silver seed,” knowing my requisite performances of “After the Gold Rush” numbered in the single digits.

Before we took the stage, we were able to catch many performances – all as ill-inspired as they were varied. I decided I do not like Neil Young or his songs - not because they are not good - but, because were it not for him or them, I wouldn’t have found myself suffering through such a steady stream of mediocrity in the middle of one of the most incredible music festivals in the world. Neil Young, how have you managed to inspire such talentless legions? Melissa Ferrick closed the show with “Hey Hey My My,” reading lyrics off a sheet on the floor. How tributous!

Later that evening, Jessie and our wonderful hostess Maya (an old friend of mine from elementary school who is convinced I will become the first female president) went to the Austin outpost of Beauty Bar to further solidify the tentaclian grip of New York Nightlife on our psyches and dance our newly official indie-rockin’ patoots into a mad frenzy. Jessie and I spotted our male counterparts, a strapping young blond lad and his less physically impressive, though far swarthier partner doing the running man and goofing it up for the pleasure of all those not too immersed in their own moves to catch them. We would later regret our oversight in not communicating with them at some point during the evening. However, Jessie did manage to patent a move we have dubbed the “dribble-shoot,” a small homage to her days of High School basketball stardom as well as catch the eye of a photographer for Elle Girl Magazine (we’re pretty sure her do-rag did it).

Later that night in the guest house abutted by Lori’s (Maya’s sister) Japanese garden, Jessie and I reflected on our first day at SXSW and fantasized with abandon about the rest of our stay.

Jamie: Do you think tomorrow we can have more fish tacos?
Jessie: I don’t see why not. Sure.

Jessie’s Rebuttal:

Okay, here are some things that Jamie forgot to mention.

Friday night, when we hit the town with Maya, we passed by Stubbs where Metric (one of our absolute favorite bands) was playing. We stood outside and salivated for as long as our gracious hostess would permit. There was no chance of getting in as there was an unruly line of fashionables who actually HAD FESTIVAL PASSES waiting to get in and we had none. Metric, if you're reading this right now, you sounded fucking fantastic. We love you. Emily Haines, we would mouth kiss you in a second even though we're not terribly gay and we hear you're a little scary in person. Still! Kisses all over your pale skinny bod! Okay, so then on to beauty bar where I made my modeling debut and patented a new dance move. Jamie forgot to mention that the afore-mentioned "do-rag" was tied Chuck Norris-style around my forehead during my homage to the martial arts, inspired by the music of Bon Jovi. Alas, yes, this is what caught the eye of the photographer. Then we caught up with my friend, Jon Briks, the drummer for Liam and Me, and it was fun running in to him by surprise.

At the outdoor stage set up behind the beauty bar, we caught the band Octopus Project, and loved them. Then Trail of Dead came on and it got mass crowded but they were a rocking and a rolling, per usual. That night we also met the UK band Amusement Parks on Fire and their super nice manager, Gary.

After much dancing and revelry we headed back to the car and passed by Stubbs again, since it was late and the night was almost over, we had no trouble ducking in without passes. Snow Patrol was playing and we loved them up until they got to their "single" and which point we had to leave. Borrring! Seriously though, their other songs sounded fucking great.

As we left Stubbs, some young dude was passing out flyers for Coachella. Here's a little replay of what happened:

Jamie: "Hey Jessie, smell this guy. He smells great!"
(Jessie smells him)
Jessie: "Holy Sh*t, you do smell great."
Dude: "Wow, Thanks."
(Jessie hangs out and smells him for a bit, he tells her what cologne
he's wearing, but she forgets the name of it in an hour's time, thus
foiling her plans to make Jamie wear it).

CONTINUE DAY 2 DAY 3

Jamie Stellini and Jessie Murphy lead the New York band The Love. They are currently recording their first full-length release.