I've been trying to catch some SXSW shows this week, although I have no wristband. There are tons of free shows or unofficial SXSW shows with a small cover charge. I must admit, I've had an interesting few days of music. We kicked it off with the Ferry Corsten show on Wednesday, which was a bust for me. The venue played almost 100% trance leading up to Ferry's time at the turntable. I dislike trance no matter how hard I try to enjoy it. I'll be listening gamely, trying to get into it and ten minutes will go by and I'll wonder if the song had changed or if I'm hearing the world's longest composition. It all sounds the same to me. After mind numbing trance, Ferry finally got started--just as we were calling it a night and leaving. Oh well, said Frank, that's what satellite radio is for.

Last night I started off at the Mean Eyed Cat with Jake, Ray and Jeff. We met up with Chelle and Todd to hear Steamroller. We arrived too late to catch the big surprise of the day. Apparently Janes Addiction is in town for SXSW and decided they wanted to play a few songs. The Cat was happy to oblige their request, much to the thrill of those lucky ones who were swilling cheap brew in the afternoon. How cool is that?

My ego was stroked when, minutes after we rolled in, an extremely intoxicated man made a beeline for us and began a lengthy campaign to hit on me. Now I love attention, but I was out with the guys and wanted to relax, enjoy myself and not even think about anything more challenging than if we were buying one more pitcher of beer. So after the really cute & really drunk man who was talking a mile a minute finally got around to asking if he had a chance, I let him down easy.

I told him I was a member of a sect of the Mormon church that had a matriarchal society and the three men I was with were my husbands. His response was a step back and an "ohhhh". I continued that my plate was full and I hadn't really thought about adding a fourth to our family, but what do you think, guys? Ray cheered an enthusiastic yes but Jake and Jeff decided that the 3:1 ratio was standing in our happy home. Drunk man, who had introduced himself as Brett, wandered off and would wave and smile at me whenever he caught my eye during the rest of our time spent Catting. Imagine my shock when I visited the Janes Addiction website and looked at the gallery photos, one of which is a drummer who looks just like, uh huh, Brett. Either he was Stephen Perkins or he is Stephen Perkins brother. At any rate, I have a nifty SXSW story.

After watching part of Steamroller's set, the boys and I wandered off to Red River. We were equally treated and mistreated by some really good rock and some really awful rock at Headhunters. One San Antonio band had a tight sound, fairly metal but when the singer stepped up to the mic, their kickin' music was ruined. He was a guttural screamer, the kind where you don't understand any words and are unsure if they're singing in English, Spanish or perhaps German. Another memorable group sang about stalking, torturing and murdering a girl. Niiice. I really liked the music from a band called Las Cruces. It was danceable and you could understand the lyrics just fine.

I hope to have a few more SXSW adventures before it's all wrapped up. Let me know if you saw any shows that rocked it hard.