The Worley Gig:
Music and Mayhem in New York City (and Austin, TX)
by Gail Worley

Showcases and Panels and Weasels, Oh My!
May 1998

I am officially back from the South By Southwest (SXSW) Music Conference in Austin, Texas. (Actually, I've been home almost a month, but needed the time off to "down load"). This year's experience in Austin showed me that the industry is approaching a kind of Fall-of-Rome level decadence. Frankly, I have no problem with that.

The Biz and the Beef
A trip to SXSW is a great way to mix business with pleasure. It's a vacation away from the nine to five grind of the day job, and my industry friends from New York and elsewhere are there, too. More importantly, I make new writing and publicity connections (CDs and live concerts just sound better when they're free). Acting as my own personal spin doctor, I go down south to work it! My registration fee was paid by a music magazine I've been contributing to for a couple of years, so I experienced the convention center trade show floor in a close up way while working in their booth. About two hours a day was all it took to pay my debt, meet fans and promote the magazine. During the day, the convention also hosts industry related workshops and panels that provide ample opportunity to schmooz (also called "Networking"). In the early evenings, everyone refuels prior to a long night of strategically pre-planned showcase hopping. This is when you consider your options and decide out where you will go to get fed. As with showcases, there's always about four or five Taco parties or full blown Texas beef-fests happening simultaneously. Certain sacrifices and Leaps of Faith must be made: Where will the best food be, and where will I score the best contacts? The best BBQ appears to have been on Thursday at the Columbia Records Showcase at Stubbs, but I got there too late to eat.

The Boys
Boys are fun and everything, but they can be a real distraction if you are trying to be taken seriously as a journalist. If I'd wanted to participate in a three-way with my roommate, Michelle, and any one of a variety of horny guys, I could have been a busy girl. One A&R guy at a downtown record label was flatteringly persistent, but owing to the likelihood I will run into him at shows in NY and/or work with his bands in the future, I declined. Casual convention sex only works for me if the guy lives in another state, so I never have to see him again in this lifetime. At the SPIN after hours party, where everyone was desperately trying to "Hook Up" for that last minute Sex By Sex West hoochie coo, I saw A&R guy furiously making out with someone. It's sad when a rare chance at meaningless hot sex goes swirling down the toilet, but I don't need the cooties. While an entertainment lawyer I met at a Four Seasons Happy Hour seemed genuinely charmed by me rather than just my intense sex appeal, I probably blew my chances when I kept leaning back in my seat to grab guys as they walked by, drunkenly slurring (see also: Beer) "Hey, you're cute, who do you work for?" I got a lot of business cards by doing this. On Friday, I took a trip in the Way Back machine, seeing my first high school boyfriend, Tony, for the first time in about 18 years. In the 80's, Tony (referred to in the SXSW guide book as a "Legendarry figure in punk history ") was the lead singer for the Orange County punk band, the Adolescents. The Adolescents reformed in 1991 with maybe one other original member besides Tony and are now called ADZ. Their set at the Atomic Cafe mostly consisted of Adolescents songs that Tony wrote when he was 16. Running into Tony in Texas was the most surreal moment of my life in the past ten years. That he actually remembered me was certainly more than I expected. After we traded email addresses, I walked over to Emo's to catch a set by The Urinals. Yes, the original Urinals have reunited! Beyond the weirdness of seeing Tony, watching a band he turned me on to when we were teenagers was appropriately bizarre.

The Urinals, easily one of the most iconoclastic and subversive bands of the first punk wave, performed their melodic and socially conscious classic tunes, including "Ack Ack Ack, "I'm a Bug," "Sex" and "Black Hole." This segues nicely into...

The Bands
I was better prepared this year and managed to see so many cool bands, I can't even remember all of them. Here are some of my recommendations. 7% Solution, from Austin, played a set of swirly, psychedelic dream rock at the Ritz Lounge on Wednesday night where David "Davey Ramone" Fricke of Rolling Stone magazine was seen lurking. 7% Solution accompanied their audio acid trip with the appropriate liquid light show and Mighty Mouse cartoons projected on the walls behind them. The Kinetics, from San Francisco, have been referred to as "the Rolling Stones fronted by Gilligan" and their show at Babe's tops out as the most happening gig of the week. It didn't hurt that the capacity crowd was spiked with gogo dancing "ringers" who were members from West Coast bands such as the Minstrels and Brian Jonestown Massacre. How the Kinetics remain unsigned is a mystery to me. Also notable are Jack Drag, from Boston, who produce a psychedelic love buzz reminiscent of sound track music from the TV show, Dragnet. Lead singer/guitarist, John Dragonetti is a super hot babe, but should remember to get friendly with the shampoo before a show. 10 Speed, from Los Angeles, are a trio who infuse glam metal with a sense of humor. Hutch, their lead singer/guitarist, is a dead-ringer for Billy Squire and seems destined for rock god status. 10 Speed remind me of a musical cross between the Rocky Horror Picture Show and Godspell as done by The Sweet. When they funked their way through a version of the Alphabet song, I fell in love immediately. I caught two shows by the always infamous Brian Jonestown Massacre, who have recently signed to TVT records and have one of their old guitarists, Jeff something, back in the fold. If no one in the band O.D's before their next record comes out, they could be bigger than the Dandy Warhols.

The Beer
I'm not much of a drinker when I'm "On Duty," but I allowed myself to get really drunk on Saturday. It was Michelle, I believe, who said "Gail's on a fucking rampage!" Yeah, I guess I was. But I didn't lose consciousness, destroy public property or injure myself. A drum fell on my leg as I was leaving the Jack Drag show, but that is another story, and totally unrelated to beer consumption.

Saving the best for last: The coveted title of "Mr. Thing" of SXSW 1998 goes to Jonathan Keidan, Manager of the outrageously cool Norwegian funk/pop band, The Getaway People. Jonathan - a sexy blond who was gentlemanly enough to not dismiss me as a drunken idiot when I referred to him as "the manager of the Euro Boys" (Yet another Norwegian band) - is a Matthew McConahey type. If Jonathan were a new hamburger at McDonald's, he would be a McHunk. Mr. Keidan, should you wish to claim your award, the band's publicist has my permission to give you the seven digit secret code to my heart. The awards committee will be standing by.

The Worley Gig regularly turns in The NY Hangover.

E-Mail Gail Worley

Previous turns of The Worley Gig:

The Worley Gig #1-- Summer, The Rules

The Worley Gig #2-- All Tomorrow's Parties

The Worley Gig #3-- Weaselfest '97

The Worley Gig #4-- How I Spent Summer

The Worley Gig #5-- Random Excerpts From My Ass-Kicking Life

The Worley Gig #6-- Christmas Kicks Total Ass

The Worley Gig #7-- She's About A Mover

The Worley Gig #8-- The Goddess and Pig Watts

The Worley Gig #9-- Outrageously Boss Records and What Not to Do On a Date

The Worley Gig #10-- Marilyn Manson: The Satanist in Winter

The Worley Gig #11-- A Mosquito, My Libido

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