SXSWorld

SXSWorld 

The Official Magazine of the South by Southwest Conferences & Festivals 

view Issue / MARCH 2007 

The Lookout world 

premiere kicks off 

SXSW in high style 

Page 10 

Bruce Sterling can see your 

future – and everybody else’s 

Page 19 

Stir it up: Music and politics 

rock the docs at SXSW Film 

Page 26

BE SEEN AT SXSW! 

YOUR 

500 Full Color 

your next order! 

$25 OFF 

Mention promo code (SXSW07) 

www.jakprints.com 

1000 1 Color 

100 White /1 Color Print 

FAVORITE BAND’S 

FAVORITEPRINTER 

www.jakprints.com 

500 Full Color 1000 2 Color 100 Dark /1 Color Print 

• Posters 

• Postcards 

• Catalogs & Magazines 

• Business Cards 

• Fliers 

• Cd Wallets 

• Brochures 

• Banners 

• CD/DVD Booklets 

• T-Shirts 

• Long Sleeves 

• Raglans 

• Ringers 

• Baby Dolls 

• Tank Tops 

• Hoodies 

• Sweatshirts 

• Gloss/Matte Paper 

• Silver/Gold Foil 

• Outdoor Vinyl 

• Clear 

• Bumper Stickers 

• Custom Die Cuts 

- Place orders online 24/7 

- Browse 100’s of products 

- Download digital templates 

- We print from your digital files 

- Online tracking of order status 

- Real time shipping estimates 

WWW.JAKPRINTS.COM 

Jakprints Inc., 3133 Chester Ave. Cleveland, Ohio 44114 | Hours: M-F 9-5pm EST | Toll Free: 877-246-3132 

*Competitors price must be verifiable / Offer only good on products of same size, quantity, color, stock and turnaround time. Shipping is not included in price. 

Jakprints reserves the right to decline price matching of any jobs that are not within our business model. 

2 SXSWorld Review / March 2007 

We accept all major credit cards 

VISIT OUR MYSPACE PAGE • BECOME OUR FRIEND • GET DISCOUNTS • www.myspace.com/myjakprints

Slacker is a trademark of Slacker, Inc. Actual online experience may differ from photo. Slacker gear and VIP Invites are limited and not guaranteed. Bloc Party and other band names and artwork provided by Vice Music, Inc. 

Look for the Slacker Street Team for free Slacker gear and VIP invites 

TM 

For the best music at SXSW or your favorites from any genre, 

check out Slacker.com 

SXSWorld Review / March 2007 3

4 SXSWorld Review / March 2007

SXSWorld 

The Official Magazine of the South by Southwest Conferences & Festivals 

Volume 1, Issue 3 ISSN 1935-1496 

Publishers 

Roland Swenson, Nick Barbaro, Louis Black 

Editor 

Andy Smith 

Art Director 

Jamie Miller 

Production Layout 

April R. Litz 

SXSW Contributors 

Matt Dentler, Andy Flynn, Hugh Forrest, Cathy 

Ricks, Cathy Ross, Craig Stewart, Ron Suman, 

Luann Williams 

SXSW 2007 Logo Design 

Decoder Ring Design Concern 

Contributors 

Brian Alesi, Jan Andersson, Jonathan Balthaser, 

Tim Basham, Robert Bryce, Lissette Corsa, 

RW Deutsch, David Fox, Lance Gould, Cameron 

Jordan, Melissa Joulwan, Jon Lebkowsky, Andria 

Lisle, Jeff McCord, Patrick Nichols, John Ratliff, 

Scott Schinder, Leah Selvidge, Jenny Smith, 

Will Van Overbeek 

Advertising 

Wendy Cummings, Una Johnston, Katie King, 

Hillary Kerby, Luann Williams 

SXSW Headquarters 

PO Box 4999, Austin TX 78765 US 

Tel 512/467-7979, Fax: 512/451-0754 

Email sxsw@sxsw.com www.sxsw.com 

SXSW Headquarters Sales Department 

MUSIC: Luann Williams, luann@sxsw.com 

FILM: Wendy Cummings, wendy@sxsw.com 

INTERACTIVE: Katie King, katie@sxsw.com 

SPONSORSHIPS: 

Scott McNearney, mcnearney@sxsw.com 

Sales: www.sxsw.com/sales 

SXSW Music, UK & Ireland 

Una Johnston, Cill Ruan, 

7 Ard na Croise Thurles, Co. 

Tipperary Ireland 

Tel & Fax +353-504-26488, una@sxsw.com 

SXSW Music & Film, European Continent 

Mirko Whitfield, Einsiedlerweg 6 

Tuebingen-Pforndorf 72074 Germany 

Tel & Fax +49-7071-885-604, mirko@sxsw.com 

SXSW Music, Asia 

Hiroshi Asada, c/o Rightsscale Inc, 

3F EBISU-WEST, 1-16-15 Ebisu-Nishi 

Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0021 Japan 

Tel +81-3-5428-3923, Fax +81-3-5428-3962, 

contactus@sxsw-asia.com 

SXSW Australia, New Zealand & Hawaii 

Phil Tripp, 20 Hordern St, Newtown 

NSW 2042 Australia 

Tel +61-2-9557-7766, Fax +61-2-9557-7788, 

tripp@sxsw.com 

Contents 

Dispatches from SXSW 2007................ 9 

Taking care of business 

to business.......................................... 15 

News & Notes..................................... 17 

Bruce Sterling..................................... 19 

Remix revolution................................ 21 

News & Notes..................................... 25 

Music documentaries......................... 26 

Political documentaries..................... 29 

Be a part of SXSWorld magazine! 

If you missed advertising in this issue, SXSWorld View Edition, you can still take advantage 

of the upcoming issues. The next issue, SXSWorld Rearview Edition, will be mailed in May following 

the SXSW Conferences. The following issue, SXSWorld Review Edition, will be mailed in 

November. Subscription and delivery is $20 per year and paid for with the purchase of a SXSW 

Registration. SXSWorld is mailed to over 15,000 SXSW Music, Film and Interactive participants. 

SXSWorld Edition / Date 

SPACE RESERVATION Deadline 

SXSWorld Rearview Edition / May 07 March 30, 2007 

SXSWorld Review Edition / Nov. 07 Sept. 28, 2007 

For inquiries, email sxsworld@sxsw.com. 

Visit sxsw.com/sales and sxsw.com/sxsworld for more information. 

SXSWorld is published by SXSW, Inc. four times per year at 1000 East 40th Street, Austin, Texas, 

78751. © 2007 SXSW, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscriptions are provided annually with paid 

registrations to the SXSW Conferences. Application to Mail at Periodicals Rate is Pending at 

Austin, TX. “SXSW” and “South By Southwest” are registered trademarks owned by SXSW, Inc. 

For inquiries, email sxsworld@sxsw.com. 

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to SXSWorld PO Box 4999, Austin TX 78765 

News & Notes..................................... 31 

Avant-garde....................................... 32 

Norton Records.................................. 33 

Global artists...................................... 35 

2007 Music Conference Speakers 

Iggy Pop.......................................... 37 

Chuck D.......................................... 37 

Rickie Lee Jones............................. 39 

Introducing Merlin............................. 39 

Ponderosa Stomp............................... 41 

Nordic artists...................................... 43 

Printed using soy based inks on Recycled 10% PC paper. 


FROM SOUND CHECK TO ROYALTY CHECK. 

GET PAID FOR PLAYING LIVE. EVERY TIME. EVERYWHERE. 

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT LIVE PERFORMANCE PAYMENTS AT 

SESAC.COM 


SXSWorld Preview / February 2007 7


Panels, premieres & parties! 

In Pamplona it’s the bulls, in Capistrano it’s the swallows, and in Austin it’s SXSW: the annual event that transforms an entire city. 

At the stroke of noon on Friday, the 2007 edition of the conference was up and running, as the first registrants checked in and geared 

up for the whirlwind of parties, panels, presentations, screenings, shows and sleeplessness that is SXSW. As newcomers to Austin set 

about comparing the city to its Texas-sized reputation, veteran visitors reacquainted themselves with their favorite Tex-Mex and BBQ 

haunts throughout the city. 

SXSW may be serious business, but it is also a big party, and downtown Austin is once again infused with a holiday feel, as registrants 

from around the world connect at official events, afterhours parties, and even just walking down the street. There’s no way to show 

you everything that’s happening, but what follows is a smattering of the ongoing action. 

CAMERON JORDAN 

FRIDAY MARCH 9 

Let go my Lego 

Confronted with the infinite potential 

of the Lego Interactive Playpen 

(located inside the convention 

center lobby), registrants immediately 

began populating it with their 

own snap-and-click creations. Past 

constructions have included the 

SXSW logo and a Million Spider-Man 

March, so keep checking back to see 

what else may rise from the pile. 



Snakes on a Plane Redux 

Kicking off Interactive’s 2007 panel lineup, Alex Williams 

(on-screen at left) moderated a lively session about how the blogging 

community turned the release of a B horror movie into a cult 

phenomenon. Williams (freedia.net) showed bits of frequently 

hilarious user-generated content and fan tributes while engaging 

fellow panelists Molly Wright Steenson (girlwonder.com), Corey 

Denis (iodalliance.com) and Kris Krug (kriskrug.com) in a discussion 

of how the movie’s advance buzz may lead to further integration 

of audience input into the end product for future films and other 

industries. 


Front cover: Isla Fisher, Scott Frank and Joseph Gordon-Levitt 

at The Lookout premiere. Photo by Will van Overbeek. 


S X S W o r l d V i e w / M a r c h 2 0 0 7



How to Rawk Interactive Panel 

First-time Interactive conference registrants were encouraged to attend 

the “How To Rawk SXSW” panel, where experienced attendees offered 

advice about how to maximize the SXSW experience. Panelists included 

(from left to right) Tony Pierce (busblog.com), Lynne d Johnson (lynnedjohnson.com), 

journalist Nick Douglas, Andrew Huff (Gapers Block), 

Glenda Bautista (agendacide.com), moderator Min Jung Kim (minjungkim.com) 

and Tantek Celik (tantek.com). 


Your Video Blog Can Save the World 

During the first panel ever held at the Carver Library and 

Museum in East Austin, Jay Dedman (SpinXpress), Michael 

Verdi (freevlog.com), and Ryanne Hodson (RyanIsHungry.com) 

discuss video blogging under the watchful on-screen eye of 

Verdi’s father. After showing five different types of vlog entry 

(including footage shot inside a Baghdad mosque, as well as 

the elder Verdi’s meditation on the morality of wishbones), the 

trio led a freewheeling discussion ranging from technical questions 

(“We’re compression geeks,” said Hodson) to the larger 

cultural ramifications of online DIY video. 

BRIAN ALESI 


The Lookout premiere 

The Lookout stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt 

and Isla Fisher greet film fans and press in 

front of the the Paramount Theatre before 

the movie’s world premiere, which kicked 

off the SXSW 2007 Film Festival. 

WILL VAN OVERBEEK 


Porter Novelli’s Mix at Six 

Fresh off their flights from points throughout the known 

universe, conference participants unwound in the cool 

(and dark) confines of Six nightclub at the official 

Interactive SXSW pre-party, courtesy of sponsor Porter 

Novelli. As with any good party, the combined conversations 

quickly achieved a dull roar, and people spilled 

outside – in this case, upstairs to the rooftop deck, where 

a balmy Austin evening warmly welcomed visitors. 

BRIAN ALESI 

1 0 S X S W o r l d V i e w / M a r c h 2 0 0 7


The Lookout premiere 

Director and screenwriter Scott Frank greets the packed 

Paramount Theatre audience just prior to the movie’s 

world premiere. 

THERESA BASS 

WILL VAN OVERBEEK 

Saturday MARCH 10 

ScreenBurn Arcade 

THERESA BASS 

THERESA BASS 

ScreenBurn sponsor Seagate’s booth. 

Long lines of multimedia enthusiasts made it easy to find 

the ScreenBurn Arcade. Interactive displays from a wide 

range of exhibitors will offer plenty of entertainment for 

the jacked-in masses through Tuesday. 

Chooseinteractive.com showcases the 

Weathered Underground project. 

THERESA BASS 


A conversation with: Bill Paxton 

Paxton, noted film actor and star of HBO’s Big Love, fields questions 

from Associated Press movie critic Christy Lemire. 

S X S W o r l d V i e w / M a r c h 2 0 0 7 1 1

dering_H_SXSW_ad1006.qxd 10/23/06 10:52 AM Page 1 

Over 20 Years of 

compact disc manufacturing 

• CD & DVD Replication 

• Fulfillment Services 

• Packing - Assembling 

• Warehousing - Shipping 

• IRMA Certified 

For Sales Information, call The Dering Corporation 

toll-free at 1.877.433.7464. Or, call directly by dialing 

1.717.283.0019, faxing 717.394.4276, or email us 

at sales@dering.com. 

The Dering Corporation 

1702 Hempstead Road 

Lancaster, PA 17601 USA 

www.dering.com 

The World Leader in 

Alternative Storage 

Solutions for CDs/DVDs 

The CShell can provide a powerful 

message everytime a CD/DVD 

is needed. 

CShells can be custom decorated by 

the Dering Corp. or supplied blank for 

you to customize. 

Dering, CShell and Discsavers are registered trademarks of The Dering Corporation. US Patents: 5,713,463 / 6,021,894 / DES387,217 / D456,201 / 6,409,014 



Emerging Social and Technology Trends 

During this Saturday morning session, panelists examined the 

impact of emerging societal trends and technological advances 

on product design. 

THERESA BASS 

THERESA BASS 

THERESA BASS 


Better Than 1000 

Words: Video on 

the Web 

THERESA BASS 

Moderated by Adobe’s Chris Hock, 

this crowded session (a joint Film and 

Interactive panel) focused on the whitehot 

subject of online video content and 

included an overview of various video 

formats and information on managing 

digital rights. 

THERESA BASS 


Writing, Better 

Moderated by Greg Storey (airbagindustries.com), this panel 

focused on the enduring role of the written word in an online 

world increasingly saturated by podcasts and video. 

S X S W o r l d V i e w / M a r c h 2 0 0 7 1 3

SXSW PRESENTS 

SCREENBURN 2007 

WITH EXPANDED PANELS 

PLUS TWO-DAY ARCADE! 

Now in its second year as part of 

SXSW INTERACTIVE, ScreenBurn focuses 

on the most current developments 

in the video game industry. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FOUR DAYS OF SCREENBURN PANELS: 

Saturday, March 10 through Tuesday, 

March 13 

TWO DAYS OF SCREENBURN ARCADE: 

Saturday, March 10 & Sunday, March 11 

Admission to ScreenBurn Panels and the 

Arcade is included with your SXSW Interactive, 

Gold or Platinum registration. For more 

info, see www.screenburnfest.com 

or email Lindsay@sxsw.com. 

ScreenBurn 2007 is sponsored by Seagate Technology, 

a leading provider of technology and products enabling 

people to store, access, and manage information. 

14 SXSWorld Preview / February 2007

Taking care of business to business 

MUZU 

By Melissa Joulwan 

Songwriter, performer ... TV network executive? With MUZU, artists 

and labels can program their own online, immersive TV network 

starring their favorite musicians, themselves. 

Imagine a network made up of musicrelated 

channels such as biography, on the 

road, mp3s and music videos, all controlled 

by the artist. The MUZU e-commerce platform 

puts the decision-making power in the 

hands of the artist, and all ad revenue is 

split 50-50. 

Snocap 


Sure, MySpace can help artists make thousands of friends, but now, 

thanks to Snocap’s MyStore product, it can also help them make 

money. Founded by the rabble-rousing music lovers behind Napster 

(Shawn Fanning, Jordan Mendelson and angel investor Ron Conway) 

Snocap provides digital licensing and copyright management tools to 

make it easy for musicians and labels to sell music directly to fans. And 

the deal is non-exclusive, so artists still own their songs and the right 

to sell them. 

But MUZU is not just for industry insiders; there’s a place for fans, and 

even bootleggers, too. Artists can create channels for user-generated 

content (yep, bootlegs) so they can expand their offerings and reap 

the associated rewards. 

One of the bands on board with MUZU is Ireland’s The Thrills. “We 

are always looking for new ways of exposing The Thrills to a wider 

audience using more dynamic, visually-led promotion,” said band 

manager, Alan Cullivan. “We’ve stopped looking. MUZU is it.” 

You can look for MUZU at both the SXSW Interactive and Music 

trade shows and see a demo of MUZU in action. 

The founders say that they “love music and want more of it to be 

heard,” and that’s what motivates them to develop new ways to break 

down the barriers between musicians and fans. 

Look for Snocap at the SXSW Music Trade Show and stop by their 

official SXSW party. 

Avid 


What is it about garages that inspires creativity? Avid, started in a 

garage in 1987, gained widespread notice in 1996 when editor Walter 

Murch cut The English Patient using its product and won the first 

Oscar for a digitally-edited film. Today, a large portion of television 

shows, feature films, commercials and pop music hits are produced 

or edited with Avid products. 

“The editing process can be the make or break moment of a short 

film,” said Ari Sandel, Director/Writer of the 2007 Oscar nominated 

film West Bank Story. 

“When we took [our 

film] to the editing 

room, we made sure 

that we had a tool that 

was within our small 

budget and could help 

us best capture the 

essence of the powerful story we had envisioned. Avid Xpress Pro 

helped us do that. It’s impressive to think a film cut on a laptop in 

someone’s garage has made its way through 125 film festivals and 

received an Oscar nomination.” 

Avid is the sponsor of the 2007 SXSW Film Pocket Guide. 

Opera 


Like chocolate and peanut butter, the Internet and cell phones are 

two great things that are even better together. Opera Software makes 

applications for the desktop and mobile devices, but it is the free 

mobile browser, Opera 

Mini, that really delivers 

on the company’s catchphrase: 

“Web for all.” 

Opera Mini just celebrated 

its first birthday with 10 

million of its closest friends, 

er ... customers. Opera’s servers send 300 complete web pages per 

second to mobile phones. Also, the downloading and clicking around 

is lightning fast, thanks to a nifty technology trick. No wonder the 

software won the “Best Program for Mobile Phones” at the Mobile 

Gala in Stockholm in 2006. 

And Opera Mini brings the Internet to mobile phones that would 

normally be unable to run a browser. Now even folks stuck with last 

year’s model can surf the web, shop online, read webmail, receive RSS 

feeds and share photos. 

Meet the folks of Opera Software at the SXSW Interactive and Film 

Trade Show. 


Deadlines 

News 

and Notes 

SXSW 

Interactive’s 

cure for the 

Monday night 

blues 

Who says there is never 

anything fun to do on a 

Monday night? 

March 12 marks one of the 

busiest social evenings of 

the 2007 SXSW Interactive 

Festival with parties, events 

and get-togethers. 

Activities for this evening 

include 20 x 2, the Austin 

on Rails Happy Hour, 

Bootstrappers and Beers, 

Drinks with Lifehacker, 

Futures of the Past: A 

Steampunk Showcase, 

GOOD Magazine / 

Creative Commons Party, 

the Heather Gold Show, 

Nuclear Taco Night, and 

the Mozilla Party. 

View the most current listings 

of all Monday events 

(including times, locations 

and full descriptions) at 

2007.sxsw.com/ 

interactive/ 

evening_events/ 

And, speaking of nighttime 

fun, be sure to stop 

by the Media Temple 

Closing Party at 8:00pm on 

Tuesday, March 13 at the 

Foundation (307 W 5th St). 

Helvetica World 

Premiere: Interactive 

at the Movies 

SXSW is about crossing genres and exploring 

new things. To this end, don’t be fooled into 

thinking that the new film, Helvetica, is just 

for designers. Sure enough, this documentary, 

that celebrates the 50th anniversary of one 

particular font, will inspire those who work in 

the design industry, or anyone else familiar 

with the terms “kerning” and “leading,” for 

that matter. But the true appeal of this film is 

in how it masterfully delves into much larger 

issues of mass communication and the visual 

arts, opening our eyes to the amazing words 

around us in the process. The premiere is 

scheduled for Tuesday, March 13 at 1:30pm 

at the Austin Convention Center Theatre and 

is FREE for all Interactive badgeholders. 

Additional screenings are set for March 15 

and March 17 but will require an admission 

fee. See 2007.sxsw.com/film/festival/ 

for complete details. 

Tuesday is Future Day 

at SXSW Interactive 

Where is all this technology headed? You may have a 

pretty good idea at the end of the day on Tuesday, as 

many of the panels scheduled for March 13 are geared 

towards what is on the horizon. Titles for this day’s 

programs include: “12 Values Shaping Technology’s 

Future,” “After Bust 2.0: Ten Years Later, Where Will 

We Be?” “Browser Wars Retrospective: Past, Present, 

and Future Battlefields,” “Finding the Next Billion 

Internet Users,” “The Future of Television: Super- 

Modality,” “The Future of the Book: Dead or Alive?,” 

“Instructional Online Video — The Next Big Thing,” 

“Mobile Phones & the Future of 

Video Games,” “Mystery Science 

Web 3000: Combinatorial Media as 

Self-Expression” and “The Truth 

About Mobile & The Future of 

Personal Devices.” Tomorrow, 

tomorrow, we love you tomorrow. 

Gina Bianchini of Ning speaks on the ‘After Bust 2.0: 

Ten Years Later, Where Will We Be?’ on Tuesday, March 13 

Deadspin’s Will Leitch talks on Tuesday afternoon 

Will Leitch 

Have the endless discussions about web standards, coding, video 

blogs and wireless entrepreneurial models left you wishing you could 

just hear a few words on a relatively mindless topic such as sports? 

If so, be sure to stop by the “Jocks and Jokes: The Deadspin 

Phenomenon” panel at 5pm on Tuesday, March 13. This session 

features the wit and wisdom of Will Leitch, who covers all things 

leather at the ever-hilarious blog Deadspin. Join this die-hard 

St. Louis Cardinals fan plus Edward Cossette (edwardcossette.com) 

and Hart Brachen (soxaholix.com) as they pontificate about what 

makes for good content in the world of balls, nets, slap-shots and 

field goals — and how all of this applies to your non-sports site. 


Take Your Music and Film to a New Level with VitalStream’s 

Award Winning Content Delivery Network 

VitalStream, a leader in online content 

delivery and monetization, gives 

creative professionals innovative 

tools and a reliable platform to 

market, deliver and monetize their 

music and film to an ever growing 

online audience. 

VitalStream Flash Video Player 

For a complimentary white paper, 

developer resources and to learn 

more about becoming a major player 

in streaming media, visit VitalStream 

at booths L4, L3, M4, M3 or online at 

www.vitalstream.com/go/sxsw2007. 

Don’t miss our presentation 

on the Day Stage, 

Sunday, March 11th, 2007 at 3pm. 

Adobe, the Adobe logo and Flash are registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. 

Microsoft, Windows Media, and the Windows Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. 

© 2007 VitalStream, Inc. All rights reserved. 


Bruce Sterling: 

Viridian design founder 

is ready to move on 

By Jon Lebkowsky 

Bruce Sterling, who has been 

living science fiction as well 

as writing it, has declared 

his most ambitious project a success 

and is ready to move on. He’ll say 

just what he’s got in mind for the 

future on Tuesday afternoon, March 

13 when he gives his annual SXSW 

Interactive talk. 

The project Sterling is moving 

on from is the Viridian Design 

Movement, which began with his 

“Manifesto of January 3, 2000” 

and was followed by a set of bold 

pronouncements and cogent observations 

published in a series of periodic 

“Viridian notes” sent to a global email 

list reaching influential thinkers, 

designers, makers and wonks. 

The subject was global warming. 

Having done his homework for 

a climate-focused science fiction 

novel called Heavy Weather, Sterling 

was keenly aware of climate change 

and how it has been stoked by the 

broad, institutionalized carelessness 

of the human race. And he said that 

it was also clear that scientists and 

environmentalists who said so were 

being marginalized, if not aggressively 

ignored: 

In this “Manifesto of January 3, 

2000,” Sterling noted: “The task at 

hand is … basically an act of social 

engineering. Society must become 

Green, and it must be a variety 

of Green that society will eagerly 

consume. What is required is not a 

natural Green, or a spiritual Green, 

or a primitivist Green, or a bloodand-soil 

romantic Green ... The world 

needs a new, unnatural, seductive, 

mediated, glamorous Green. A 

Viridian Green, if you will.” 

Sensing a peril driven by enforced 

ignorance and seeing that the environmental 

movement had been largely 

ineffective in facilitating real solutions, 

Sterling realized that revolutionary 

design movements, by redesigning 

and re-imagining the world, have 

most effectively changed the way we 

see, think and live. Viewed from the 

perspective of a design movement, 

global warming could be, in Sterling’s 

words, “a profound opportunity for 

the 21st century culture industry.” 

The Viridian Design Movement initially 

had an expiration date: “2012, 

a date in the Kyoto accords, when 

people are supposed to be engaged in 

a serious decline in CO2 emissions.” 

But now, five years short of that date, 

Sterling is ready to end the project 

because, as he said in a recent Viridian 

note, “We’re winning.” 

The Viridian Design Movement 

has been credited with helping 

foment a new hybrid of environmentalism, 

futurism, and design. 

Green designers are everywhere, and 

interested parties are increasingly 

knowledgeable and aware of designdriven 

solutions. There are new 

websites (Worldchanging, Treehugger, 

Ecogizmo, Vivavi, Inhabitat, et al) 

that Sterling describes as “heirs and 

successors of the Viridian movement.” 

And though there has been 

no serious decline in CO2 emissions 

yet, people are engaged and certainly 

paying attention, as Al Gore trains 

an army of slideshow evangelists for 

the “inconvenient truth” of climate 

change. 

With the Viridian Design Movement 

winding down, what’s next for 

Sterling? “I’m thinking that we do 

one more Viridian contest to end the 

eight-year effort with a bang,” he says. 

“Then I start another grand scheme 

with a similar projected lifespan...” 

He continues: “The plan is to make 

something that seems utterly impossible 

right now into something 

blatantly obvious to everybody. For 

the first time in my quasi-career as 

an Internet activist, I don’t think 

this scheme centers on the Internet. 

Basically, it’s got to be about making 

‘the Internet’ disappear, in much 

the same way that the ‘information 

superhighway’ disappeared. I think 

my new scheme has got to be about 

physicality; it’s got to be about stuff 

that occupies space and has mass; it’s 

about logistics and engineering.” 

This is an extension of Sterling’s vision 

of an “Internet of things,” which 

produced the concept of the “spime,” 

an object that can be tracked through 

space and time, similar to how 

information can be tracked through 

cyberspace. In fact, spimes are virtual 

objects instantiated as actual objects, 

and each instance of an object has a 

unique digital identity. 

Spime is a neologism, a word Sterling 

came up with himself around 2004. 

Three years later, Google finds 

493,000 occurrences of the word. As 

previously stated, he is writing and 

living science fiction, and what better 

world for a science fiction writer than 

one where you can watch an online 

vision become reality? n 

Bruce Sterling’s 

SXSW Rant 

Tuesday, March 13, 

5:00-6:00pm, 

Room 18ABCD 


Day Stage Cafe Hours 

Friday, March 9: 11:30am to 6pm 

Saturday & Sunday, March 10 and 11: 8:30am to 6pm 

Monday & Tuesday, March 12 and 13: 9am to 6pm 

Wednesday, March 14: 9am to 6pm 

Thursday, March 15: 8:30am to 6pm 

Friday, March 16: 9am to 6pm 

Saturday, March 17: 9am to 4pm 

Trade Show & Exhibition Hours 

(including Studio SX and the 

South By Bookstore) 

iF! (Interactive/Film) 

Sunday, March 11 and Monday, March 12: Noon to 6pm 

Tuesday, March 13: Noon to 4pm 

Music 

Thursday, March 15: 11:30am to 6pm 

Friday, March 16: Noon to 6pm 

Saturday, March 17: Noon to 4pm 

Sarah Kerver Charlie Llewellin 

STAY AUSTIN STYLE 

Walk to 6th Street 

and Warehouse 

District entertainment 

from our downtown 

location on Town 

Lake. We feature exceptional 

meeting/banquet facilities and 

catering, wireless hi-speed 

Internet, Sleep Number ® beds, plus 

online Express Yourself SM check-in. 

Enjoy the pool, fitness center, 

miles of hike/bike trails, our newly 

remodeled T.G.I. Friday’s and 

full-service Starbucks coffee store. 

Or, simply relax! 

“Austin Bound” painted in 2005 by Karen Maness 

AUSTIN – DOWNTOWN 

Radisson Hotel & Suites Austin 

111 Cesar Chavez @ Congress • Austin, TX 78701 • (512) 478-9611 

www.radisson.com/austintx • 1-800-333-3333 

STAY YOUR OWN WAY SM 


All mixed up: Tomorrow’s 

interactive music is here today 

By Peter Kirn 

Jacinta 

It’s unsettling when predictions 

come true. 

Seven years ago, remixers speaking 

at South by Southwest had some 

surprising ones: Mash-ups of different 

songs would remake music. 

Laptops would bring production out 

of the studio and into the bedroom. 

Remixing songs would become so 

commonplace that microlabels would 

spread as fast as artists once did. Music 

would be as much about the remix as 

the mix. 

“When we first covered this topic 

at SXSW back in 2000, the panel’s 

assessment was eerily prescient,” quips 

panel leader and remixer Francis 

Preve, author of The Remixer’s Bible. 

“With this year’s team, it’s almost certain 

that we’ll be able to make some 

very educated projections for 2012.” 

Once a tiny niche, remixing has been 

interwoven with music making at 

every level. Software tools like Ableton 

Live have mashed-up traditional 

recording with remixing and DJing 

techniques, transforming music creation. 

Online tools such as JamGlue 

have community members remixing 

in their browser instead of just 

listening, and then joining in onlinebased 

choruses of tunes for Valentine’s 

Day. As with digital music creation in 

general, though, democratization of 

production is nothing without more 

access to distribution, and microlabels 

are giving artists not only new opportunities 

to distribute their music, but 

also greater control over how they 

sound and appear. 

At the March 13 “Music From the 

Masses” panel at SXSW Interactive, 

an impressive selection of digital 

music experts will gather to talk about 

the parallel trends of the growth of 

remixes in creation and the expanding 

universe of online listeners and participants. 

Keyboard magazine’s Preve 

is moderating, having worked both 

on the software side (programming 

sounds for Ableton and Korg), and 

the DJ/Remix side with #1 Billboard 

Dance remixes. Acclaimed DJ, 

producer, remix artist and MixMan 

founder Josh Gabriel 

joins dance artist, keyboardist 

and producer 

Jacinta to share the 

perspective of artists. 

Matt Rubens will talk 

about JamGlue.com, 

and Jonas Tempel 

of Beatport will talk 

about his company’s 

portal to remix labels, 

both micro and major. 

Francis Preve 

Gabriel represents just 

how fast the music world can change. 

Co-founding music tech vendor 

Mixman in the 1990s, he presaged the 

mass-market computer music creation 

and popular remixing trends to come. 

He also worked with the more experimental 

side of music performance that 

is now spreading through DIY circles, 

and in a Dutch club installation he 

co-designed, he could control beats by 

interrupting beams of light with his 

hands. Since then, as half of Gabriel 

& Dresden, he has become one of the 

best-known names in electronica, with 

countless remix hits. 

Jacinta illustrates that these trends 

really can empower the people making 

the music. “As a dance music artist 

and songwriter, today’s new technologies 

are enabling me to get my songs 

out there, especially when dance 

music radio has sadly dwindled so 

much,” says Jacinta. “It’s brilliant that 

DJs and producers can recreate and 

remix my songs in their own style that 

works for them and their audiences. 

Indie labels like my own (Chunky 

Music) are relying on these outflows 

significantly now.” 

“New trends suggest the relationship 

of producer and listener can 

be inverted. Is it interactive, or is 

it music?” 

But how does this lead to online choruses 

on Valentine’s Day? That’s the 

participatory leap sites like JamGlue 

hope their listeners will take online. 

Whereas the conventional online 

community might have members post 

their own songs or pick their favorite 

artists, online remix culture takes 

music one step further. A listener logs 

onto the site, records an ode (of either 

love or hate) to Valentine’s Day, and 

soon is part of an electronic chorus of 

singers from around the world. 

Looking at the rise of Walkmans and 

iPods, it is easy to say digital music 

has made listeners more passive. But 

new trends suggest the relationship of 

producer and listener can be inverted. 

Is it interactive, or is it music? n 

NOELLE REIFEL 

Music From the Masses: 

The Remix Revolution 

Tuesday, March 13 

2:00-3:00pm 

Room 12AB 



DISTRIBUTION 

INDEPENDENT PROTECTION FROM CORPORATE INFECTION 

www.naildistribution.com • www.myspace.com/naildistribution 

14134 NE Airport Way • Portland, Or 97230 

NAMM_h_4C.pdf 1/4/07 4:16:46 PM 

C 

M 

Y 

CM 

MY 

CY 

CMY 

K 

Live out your own rock star dreams. 

Pick up an instrument and PLAY. 

namm.org/wanna_play 

Log on to namm.org/wanna_play to locate 

your nearest NAMM music products retailer. 

SXSWorld Preview / February 2007 23


News 

and Notes 

“What is 

SXSW.mobi?” 

SXSW.mobi is our 

new mobile website. 

This means that you can 

access information via 

your smartphone. If you 

typically surf the web on 

your PDA phone, visit 

sxsw.mobi for mobileenhanced 

content, 

schedules and more. 

“What is this 

SMS stuff at 

SXSW?” 

If you receive text messages 

on your phone, you 

are able to take advantage 

of this new feature 

at SXSW. Visit: sxsw. 

com/toolbox/sms/ to 

get information about 

registering your phone to 

receive schedule updates 

and also to participate 

in the SXSW Audience 

Awards. 

sxsw.com/film 

Filmmaker John Cameron Mitchell added to Monday, 

March 12, 3:00pm session 

John Cameron Mitchell 

H Filmmaker John Cameron Mitchell 

(Shortbus) has been added to the Monday, 

March 12, 3pm session “Sex Scenes Stay 

Hard.” Mitchell will join the discussion about 

the ins, outs and controversy that comes with 

sex in modern cinema, from production to 

distribution. 

H For the third year in a row, SXSW is teaming 

up with the National Association of Latino 

Independent Producers (NALIP) for a panel 

entitled “Latino Filmmaking.” The session, 

which takes place on Tuesday, March 13, at 

2pm, will include filmmakers and industry 

members working today and should illuminate 

the common issues and success stories of some 

of today’s top Latino and Latina creative minds. 

Film Awards Tuesday, March 13 

H This year, SXSW has teamed up with popular 

new website The Daily Reel for a program 

called “The Daily Reel Shorts.” On Monday, 

March 12 at the Dobie, audiences can witness 

a program tailor-made for short-form filmmaking 

fans. The Daily Reel staff has compiled 

some of the best short web videos around 

for an entertaining program that speaks to 

the growing trend of web-based film entertainment. 

Check the schedule for specific 

show times. 

H The panel lineup will conclude on Tuesday, 

March 13 at 3pm with a special session 

entitled “Ready 

for Primetime: 

TV Comedy 

Today” featuring 

notable 

TV performers 

and producers 

such as Seth 

MacFarlane 

(Family Guy), 

Al Jean (The 

Rob 

Simpsons), 

Corddry 

Rob Corddry 

(The Daily Show and Fox’s new show 

The Winner) and more. 

“Does the film festival end after the awards ceremony on Tuesday?” The SXSW Film Conference, Trade 

Show, and Panels all close on Tuesday, March 13. And later that same evening is the annual Film Awards 

Ceremony at the ACC Theater. But no, film festival screenings still take place at each venue through 

March 17. This is also a great chance to see some of the award winners you may have missed earlier. 

courtesy fox 


Music documentaries tackle 

compelling subjects 

By Jonathan Balthaser 

S 

XSW has always been at the 

forefront of new trends in 

both music and film, and true 

to form, this year’s music documentaries 

explore unique perspectives in our 

ever-changing relationship to music. 

In both format and content, many of 

this year’s music documentaries chart 

new territory, with topics as diverse as 

the music itself. 

The Last Days of Left Eye 

Selections for this year’s films include 

a highly unconventional look at a 

world famous rocker, an on-the-road 

pilgrimage tour of an emerging indie 

band, a tale of bold women bucking 

the traditions of a centuries-old 

musical tradition, and a behind-thescenes 

expose of one of hip-hop’s 

most charismatic stars. 

Our enduring fascination with music 

icons such as John Lennon and 

Jimi Hendrix is amplified by their 

untimely deaths and thoughts of their 

untapped potential. This year, two 

films document the spirit of musical 

pioneers whose lives ended all too 

soon: A.J. Schnack’s Kurt Cobain: 

About A Son, and Lauren Lazin’s The 

Last Days of Left Eye. 

About A Son is an intimate look at 

Kurt Cobain during the last year of 

his life. Director Schnack worked 

with Nirvana biographer Michael 

Azerrad to tell the story of Cobain’s 

life in the artist’s own words, piecing 

together 25 hours of never-beforeheard 

late night interviews between 

Cobain and Azerrad. The film merges 

this audio with beautiful footage 

from different locations that affected 

Cobain’s life. About a Son differs from 

other documentaries in that there 

are no additional interviews with 

friends, acquaintances or social critics, 

no archival video footage, and no 

Nirvana music or soundtrack. 

MTV Films is releasing The Last Days 

of Left Eye, a film about Lisa Lopes, 

the creative force behind the R&B 

trio, TLC. Lopes was a charismatic 

and conflicted individual who had 

an intense spiritual side. The film 

documents never-before-seen footage 

of the rapper at her retreat in the 

jungles of Honduras just before she 

was killed in a car accident in April 

2002. Director Lauren Lazin says that 

“during this month Lisa reflected on 

her triumphs and mistakes with an 

eye towards the spiritual transformation 

she desperately sought.” 

Not all of this year’s music documentaries 

have such gloomy themes. 

One example is Silver Jew by director 

Michael Tully. When David Berman, 

the frontman for indie rock band 

Silver Jews, decided to go on tour for 

the first time in his band’s history, his 

small but avid fan base was elated. 

The band planned an international 

tour from New York to the U.K. to 

Sweden, but Berman decided that 

he wanted to document his stop in 

Israel, sensing it would be a special 

moment in time. Tully captures everything, 

creating film that he says is: 

“an intimate, visceral in-the-moment 

experience that ... makes viewers feel 

as if they’re with the band.” 

Shedding light on someone he 

describes as “a musician at once 

out of step with current trends and 

light years ahead of them,” director 

Stephen Kijak brings Scott Walker: 30 

Century Man to SXSW. Walker was 

of the most promising and successful 

musicians during the mid-’60s, but 

he eventually rejected his teen idol 

status, instead diving into a more 

a mature musical path. Walker 

has released music throughout his 

life, but the age of 63, he has just 

unleashed his first album in over a 

decade, and the filmmakers were 

granted the rare privilege of observing 

him in the studio. Featuring interviews 

with such Walker devotees as 

David Bowie, Sting, Brian Eno, Jarvis 

Crocker, and members of Radiohead, 

30 Century Man explores the life of 

the man whom Kijak calls: “One of 

the greatest American songwriters 

you’ve never heard of.” 

Silver Jew 

Compañeras is the story of America’s 

first all-female Mariachi band, 

Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles. The 

film alternates between live performances 

and the behind-the-scenes 

drama of the group. In a musical 

genre that has been dominated by 

men for over one hundred years, the 

intrepid women of Mariachi Reyna 

pave their own way, according to 

director Liz Massie. “I was constantly 

inspired by the dedication of the 

women of Mariachi Meyna,” she says. 

“They have rich lives into which they 

fit the achingly dramatic music that 

allows them a unique way to express 

themselves.” n 




Four political documentaries 

examine personal convictions By RW Deutsch 

SXSW Film annually features documentaries that address current political and social issues, and 

with films examining subjects ranging from the war in Darfur to the war on Christmas, this year 

is no exception. A quartet of these documentaries offer views of four very different individuals, all 

driven to act by their convictions. 

I 

n Fall from Grace, 22-year old 

filmmaker K. Ryan Jones takes 

us into the world of Pastor Fred 

Phelps of Topeka, Kansas. Phelps 

garnered national attention for his 

picketing at funerals of AIDS victims 

and soldiers killed in Iraq. His message 

is that “God Hates Fags,” and 

further, that God is killing our soldiers 

in Iraq because America is a “fagloving” 

country. Phelps’ congregation, 

consisting almost entirely of his own 

family, speaks honestly and openly of 

its belief in a world gone mad. 

In a recent interview, Jones explained 

how tough it was to contain his emotions 

while filming: “Through the 

entire year I was doing this I basically 

shut down emotionally so that I could 

maintain my sanity and present an 

impartial face to the Phelpses. I knew 

if I showed my feelings one way or 

another, I’d be cut off. I told myself 

to stop feeling everything I should be 

feeling.” 

Jones succeeds in refusing to let us 

to see this family simply as some 

crazed cult. As one clergyman in the 

film notes, the Phelpses personify the 

human enigma of “the man who needs 

love most, is the one who deserves it 

the least.” 

Campaign is director Soda Kazuhiro’s 

cinéma vérité look at a friend who 

runs for city council in the Japanese 

city of Kawasaki. Day in and day out, 

Yamauchi Kazuhiko struggles to make 

himself a viable candidate in a city 

where he has no name recognition. 

He also struggles to fit the mold the 

party tries to squeeze him into. It is 

an insider’s look at today’s Japanese 

political machine, which even the 

director called a “complex, difficult-toarticulate 

reality.” 

The Price of Sugar is a tribute to the 

work of Father Christopher Hartley. 

The son of both British and Spanish 

“I never expected to see or 

experience what I was now 

witnessing here in Darfur...” 

upper classes, Father Christopher has 

devoted his life to helping displaced 

Haitians, who for generations have 

been enslaved by sugar plantation 

barons in collusion with the 

Dominican Republic government. 

Seemingly fearless, he challenges the 

country’s president and defies death 

threats, all in the name of giving voice 

and solace to these desperate people. 

Yet the film also questions whether 

Father Christopher’s conviction and 

indignation may at times be a hindrance 

to both him and his cause. 

Captain Ryan Steidle, USMC (Ret.), 

the focus of the film The Devil Came 

on Horseback, is an American hero. 

Back to a placid civilian life while still 

in his mid-20s, the adventure-seeking 

Steidle returned to uniform and 

enlisted as a peace-keeping observer 

with the African Union, where he was 

assigned to monitor the cease fire in 

Sudan. 

Steidle finds himself drawn into the 

horror taking place in the Darfur 

region. With 

his camera, he 

documents mass 

killings, torture 

and annihilation 

of the region’s 

inhabitants and 

villages, all accomplished 

with, as 

Steidle discovers, 

the training and 

assistance of the 

Sudanese government. 

“Though 

I knew there 

would be conflict,” 

Steidle writes, “I 

never expected to 

see or experience 

what I was now 

witnessing here in 

Darfur ... I could 

in no way reconcile 

or justify what 

had apparently 

happened here. 

The wickedness of 

the government’s 

Fall from Grace 

activities began crawling through my 

conscience.” 

Returning to America, he is shocked 

by the lack of awareness of the crisis. 

Steidle then begins a journey to engage 

politicians and the world to act and 

end the genocide in Darfur. But that 

end proves more difficult to reach than 

he initially believed. n 

The Price of Sugar 


BRANDI CARLILE 

THE STORY 

Manufacture CDs & DVDs “as needed” 

Eliminate up-front production costs 

Acutrack proudly introduces 

On-Demand CD/DVD Production 

Learn if On-Demand 

is right for you 

“Acutrack's On-Demand production has allowed United Hypnotherapy 

to focus on marketing and promotion of our products as well as 

the creation of new products for our customers.” 

SONYBMG and Columbia Records 

are pleased to release 

The Story on vinyl exclusively 

at independent music stores March 20th 

Visit any of the following websites to find a participating indie store near you 

http://www.thealliancerocks.com http://www.cimsmusic.com 

http://www.monitorthis.com http://www.thinkindie.com 

CD available everywhere April 3rd 

www.brandicarlile.com 

“I can add several product titles each and every day if I want to, 

and I never have to worry about how I'm going to stock it, 

pay for it, or produce it. I simply send the files off to Acutrack, 

and it all magically happens a short time later...” 

- Rick McFall, UnitedHypno.com 

Visit us at SXSW Booth G10 

888-234-3472 www.acutrack.com 


News 

and Notes 

Saturday showcase highlights 

emerging Dallas hip-hop 

DSR 

Is Dallas joining Houston as a Texas hip-hop hotbed? Find out Saturday night at 

Visions with a whole crew of the Big D’s hip-hop representatives, headlined by 

new Universal-signees DSR (featuring Tum-Tum and Big Tuck), Gator Mayne, 

Big Chief and more. 

Experimental music 

A 75 minute set from Jandek 

(including guest musicians Ian 

Wadley, Tom Carter and Shawn 

David McMillen) is part of a night of 

beautifully diverse music at Central 

Presbyterian Church on Saturday 

the 17th. One Umbrella (experimental 

duo with a new album on 

Table of the Elements) and The 

Nightwatchman (Tom Morello’s 

solo project) are also on the bill, along 

with Gary Lucas, who will first 

accompany a screening of the 1920 

silent horror film The Golem and then 

play a full set with his psychedelic 

supergroup, Gods and Monsters. 

Day Stage Events 

Want to see three bands who are 

all playing on the same night at the 

same time? Then why not check out 

the SESAC-sponsored SXSW Music 

Day Stage on the 4th Floor of the 

Austin Convention Center and catch 

such artists as Robyn Hitchcock, 

Thomas Dolby, Kid Koala, Balkan 

Beat Box, Sondre Lerche, Fujiya & 

Miyagi, Dengue Fever and more! 

Then pop into the SXSW Music 

Trade Show for some of the many 

interviews at our Studio SX (sponsored 

by ME Television), including 

David Cross, Hoodoo Gurus, Ian 

McLagan, Pamela des Barres and 

Jon Langford. Get books and CDs 

signed by Johnny Bush, Charlie 

Louvin, Joe Boyd, Garland Jeffreys 

and a host of others at the South 

by Bookstore (hosted by Barnes & 

Noble). 

Check 2007.sxsw.com/tradeshow/ 

for complete info. 

H Envision Entertainment 

Kid Koala 

and Ninja Tune are 

teaming up this year to 

present an evening of 

music with Kid Koala 

and Amon Tobin. 

Amon Tobin will be 

debuting music from 

his Foley Room album, 

released on March 5th. 

Also performing will be 

Bleubird, Plaster and YPPAH. 

H Øyafestival and Oh My Rockness are joining forces 

to present a show that mixes three top Norwegian 

touring acts with some of U.S. indiedom’s more 

buzzworthy bands. Leading Norway’s contingent is 

DATAROCK, who just wrapped up a recent NME 

tour, while Chicago’s The Ponys, who have a new 

album on Matador due out this month, headline 

the domestic side of the bill. 

Balkan Beat Box 

1st Annual URGE 

Dance Party at SXSW 

TV and URGE are presenting the first annual 

SXSW “URGE Dance Party” from 11pm to 3am 

on Friday, March 16 at Karma Lounge (119 W 

8th St). This shindig will shake your feet with 

spine-rattling sets from RJD2, Simian Mobile 

Disco and two very, very special guests. This is 

the late-night party at SXSW 2007. 

H If you like your pop powered by catchy hooks, 

hip-shakin’ rhythms and a whole lot of soul, then 

get thee to The Blender Bar at the Ritz on Friday 

night. The night starts with the U.K.’s Dirty Fuzz, 

then shimmies into Little Steven faves Muck and 

the Mires. The beat goes on with the frantic 

rock of Prisonshake and long-time masters 

of Boston garage, 

The Downbeat 5. 

End your night with 

the perfectly pure 

pop of Australia’s 

Hoodoo Gurus, 

making a return to 

these shores for the 

first time since the 

’90s, and the sweatsoaked, 

mod squad 

riot of the Mooney 

Suzuki. 

Mooney Suzuki 

Eclectic music at Annex on 

Saturday, March 17 

JDub Records & Heeb Magazine present a night of eclectic music from 

across the globe at Habana Calle Six Annex on Saturday. Hosted by Michael 

Showalter (of The State), the show features Israeli groups Balkan Beat Box 

and Soulico, Chicago’s The Changes, and Brooklyn’s Sway Machinery. 

Golem, New York City’s Eastern European folk punks, and up-and comers 

The Silent Years (from Detroit) round out the bill. 

RJD2 


Jandek among avant garde 

standouts at SXSW 2007 By Patrick Nichols 

W 

ith a rare performance 

by Jandek and showcases 

featuring nearly 50 

avant-garde artists from 10 different 

countries, SXSW 2007 is offering a 

unique melting pot of experimental 

music. 

Jandek will play a special 

live concert at Central 

Presbyterian Church on 

Saturday, March 17 to 

celebrate the world premiere 

of Duality of Self, a 

film documenting a 2006 

performance in Toronto. 

Yet despite his 49 albums 

Jandek over nearly three decades, 

even the most devoted 

mavens know little or nothing of the 

man behind Jandek or his music. 

So don’t feel uninformed if you find 

yourself asking, who is Jandek? It’s a 

difficult question to answer. 

Jandek is part man, part myth. 

Officially the name refers to a project 

rather than a person. The man 

behind Jandek is “a representative of 

Corwood Industries,” the Houston 

company that runs Jandek’s mail 

order fulfillment. His real identity 

is the source of much speculation, 

fueled by the lack of any public 

appearances until a surprise show in 

October 2004 at Glasgow, Scotland’s 

Instal Festival. For his nearly cult-like 

following, the mythology is part of 

Jandek’s allure. 

If defining Jandek is difficult, 

describing the music is even more 

challenging. Freed from traditional 

commercial constraints, Jandek has 

developed a style all his own — think 

folk/blues/rock poetry, performed 

without regard for instrumental or 

vocal “conventions.” 

While Jandek may be viewed as the 

headliner among this year’s group of 

experimental performers, he is hardly 

the only SXSW notable exploring the 

fringes of modern music. 

San Francisco quartet Wooden 

Shjips registered high on the indie 

buzz meter following last year’s EP, 

Shrinking Moon for You. The band 

gave away 300 copies on vinyl, but as 

noted in the blogosphere this psych/ 

rock sampler is superior to most 

albums sold at retail. Wooden Shjips’ 

full-length debut, due in August, 

is sure to be one of the year’s most 

blogged about releases. 

Another newcomer 

is Yolz in the Sky. 

The Japanese band 

is making its U.S. 

debut, but its guitardriven, 

post-punk, 

noise-filled sound has 

already developed a 

solid club following 

back home in Osaka. 

Tetuzi Akiyama hails 

from Japan, too, but is 

worlds away musically 

from Yolz in 

the Sky. A renowned 

guitar master, 

Akiyama melds classical 

discipline with 

free improvisation, 

creating a musical 

tension that assumes a 

near visceral quality. 

Bay Area drummer 

Scott Amendola also 

uses his classical training as a foundation 

to improvise, creating a jazzy, 

rhythmic groove that evolves into 

worldbeat fusion. 

Beautiful may not be the first word 

that comes to mind when listening 

to Deerhunter. The Atlanta-based 

quintet revels in the reactions to its 

antagonistic electronic punk. In fact, 

Deerhunter prominently features 

negative comments about the band 

on its MySpace page because, as 

frontman Bradford Cox says, “They 

are funny.” 

Another industry veteran is Gary 

Lucas. The former Captain Beefheart 

guitarist continues a trailblazing 

career with the Los Angeles-based 

psychedelic rock band Gods and 

Monsters. 

The amazing quality and variety of 

this year’s lineup isn’t lost on the 

artists. Ripley Johnson of Wooden 

Gary Lucas 

Shjips easily listed a dozen showcases 

he plans to attend. He added, “We’re 

just looking forward to seeing lots of 

great music, having a good time, and 

meeting other musicians and music 

fans from all over.” 

This generation’s avant-garde may 

be the next’s musical standard. Savor 

the opportunity to sample the future 

today with this rare blend of cuttingedge 

experimental music. n 


Mary Weiss leads 

Norton Records pack 

Since 1986, Brooklyn’s Norton Records has maintained a fierce fidelity to 

the raw, raucous sounds of vintage rock & roll and R&B, championing the 

work of a vibrant assortment of forgotten geniuses and obscure iconoclasts. 

The label is a longstanding labor of love for founders Miriam Linna and Billy 

Miller, who first launched Norton to showcase rural wildman Hasil Adkins 

and have since amassed an impressive catalogue of old and new music that 

includes historic work by such cult legends as Link Wray, Andre Williams, 

Esquerita, Bobby Fuller and the Sonics. 

Although Norton has long thrived beneath 

the radar of the mainstream music industry, 

the company has chosen SXSW 2007 for 

the occasion of its first-ever industry showcase. 

The occasion coincides with the label’s 

highest-profile release to date, Dangerous 

Game, by Mary Weiss, lead singer of ‘60s 

girl-group goddesses, the Shangri-Las. The 

album is Weiss’ first-ever solo release and 

offers her first new material since her former 

group ceased recording in 1967. 

Mary Weiss 

Weiss, whose lengthy absence from the music business won her status 

as one of pop’s most mythologized icons, met Linna and Miller at a party 

celebrating the release of One Kiss Can Lead To Another: Girl Group Sounds 

Lost & Found, Rhino Records’ 2005 girl-group box set. There, the pair raised 

the possibility of Weiss recording new material for Norton. The singer was 

skeptical at first, but did some research and eventually decided that Norton 

was her kind of label. “They are true rock & roll people,” Weiss enthuses. 

“And now I consider them my friends.” 

Reigning Sound 

For her SXSW set, Weiss will 

be backed by neo-garagists, 

the Reigning Sound, 

who back her on Dangerous 

Game, and whose leader, 

Greg Cartwright, co-produced 

the album with Miller. 

“We had a great time putting 

the new CD together,” 

Weiss says. “The first time I 

heard the Reigning Sound, I 

knew that we would mesh.” 

Norton’s SXSW bill also features the Alarm Clocks, ‘60s Ohio garage 

legends who recently reunited to record their first-ever album, The Time 

Has Come, which Norton released in December. Also appearing on the bill 

are legendary “Wooly Bully” auteur Sam the Sham, who was the subject 

of the 1994 Norton tribute album, Turban Renewal, ex-Flat Duo Jets leader 

Dexter Romweber, and Linna and Miller’s own band, beloved slop-rock 

deities the A-Bones. 

Asked why Norton has chosen 2007 to take the SXSW plunge, Linna asserts, 

“We were invited to participate and the time was right. Norton’s about to 

turn 21, so we’re of age now. And Mary and the Alarm Clocks are both 

releasing their first new recordings in 40 years, so that seemed like a good 

excuse for a party.” 

“We’re all pumped for SXSW,” says Weiss. “I’m sure it will be a great time.” 

– Scott Schinder 


Global artists turn SXSW into 

world music crossroads 

By Lissette Corsa 

Converging at the crossroads of world music at SXSW this year are bands 

that defy labels while often thriving in societies that suffocate creative 

expression. In the process, they redefine musical breeding grounds and 

bridge cultural differences through music. 

Allison 

Brazilian baile funk ambassadors Bonde do Role (from the city of Curitiba) 

are credited with taking the music from Rio de Janeiro’s shantytowns and 

giving it a southern twist. With the help of Philadelphia DJ/producer Diplo, 

they introduced their take on the crude, street-party music to the world by 

incorporating retro American pop into an already heady mix. Bonde do Role 

has just sealed a pact with Domino Records (home to such hipsters as Arctic 

Monkeys and Juana Molina) that will catapult their brand of funk carioca, 

with its lethal hybrid of Miami-bass samples, samba drum-loops and relentless, 

raunchy rapping, onto the U.S. indie scene. 

The band recently released a remix EP under Diplo’s Mad Decent imprint and 

their new, as-yet-unnamed CD for Domino is scheduled for release in May. 

In the meantime, the single “Solta o Frango” is already available as a digital 

download. In describing the trio’s dirty sonic amalgamation, DJ Diplo had 

these choice words: “Bonde de Role is like digging through the garbage in 

Brazil and using the pieces and making a club mess turned up the volume 

plus 10; it’s like death samba metal bass with Cool Edit Pro.” 

Rodrigo and Gabriela 

Allison has fans buzzing with its brand of power-pop punk anthems en 

español. The Mexico City foursome’s thrash guitars and whiny punk balladry 

is often compared to Good Charlotte and Fall Out Boy. 

On the other end of the spectrum in Mexico City, Rodrigo and Gabriela 

rebelled in their own distinct way by deconstructing the acoustic guitar 

sound with an intense fretboard technique that defies folk, jazz or even 

flamenco. Amps not included, Rodrigo and Gabriela still manage to rock 

hard with barebones acoustics. 

At the core of internationally-acclaimed collective Balkan Beat Box’s 

sound is the strong desire to erase political borders through ethnic music 

redefined in a modern context. As one band member says about borders: 

“Our ears don’t have them, why should we?” 

As one band member says about 

borders: “Our ears don’t have 

them, why should we?” 

The band’s founders, Ori Kaplan and Tamir Muskat, are originally from 

Israel. Kaplan learned to play clarinet at an early age and was influenced 

by Egyptian pop as well as Russian and Moroccan music that played on the 

radio. He turned his back on classical music and instead learned to play 

klezmer, a high-spirited Eastern European Jewish dance music. Later he 

was pulled into the transatlantic currents of jazz, rock and industrial music. 

Muskat, who also comes from a diverse musical background, became 

an accomplished punk rock drummer and was producing the works of 

Mediterranean singers in his basement by the time he was 18. Together they 

concoct a genre-bending sound they describe as “Mediterranean dancehall.” 

Others refer to it as Balkan-inspired, electronic urban folk, with hip-hop beats. 

In true gypsy circus style, BBB’s live performances are a pastiche of folk 

traditions, electronic beats, video projections and a rotating cast of guests 

that has included the Bulgarian Chicks, Victoria Hannah, Jeremiah Lockwood, 

gnawa player Hasan Ben Nafar and Israeli MC Tomer Yosef. Once in 

Jerusalem, they even invited a Palestinian guest rapper onstage. 

Iran is an unlikely setting for youth culture and rock & roll irreverence, but 

the five guys from indie rock band Hypernova have found a way adapt to 

the realities of their society by going underground. Influenced by the Kings 

of Leon, The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand and the Bravery, they taught themselves 

how to play their instruments in true punk rock style and have become 

popular in their native Tehran simply through word of mouth. Surprisingly, 

they have been able to score a few gigs in public but more often than not, 

have been banned from openly performing. n 


Luna Lounge 

since 1995 

rebel 

To learn more about TicketWeb, please call 

1.866.666.8932 or email music@ticketweb.com 


Infuential artists among SXSW speakers 

Iggy Pop 

Chuck D 

Onstage, he is wildman Iggy Pop, rock’s unbridled id running roughshod over 

everything in its path. 

Offstage, he is, well, Jim. 

The former was once celebrated for writhing on broken glass. He’s mellowed 

only slightly over the years, downgradind from a violent tropical storm to a 

destructive gale-force wind, but still capable of unleashing frenetic raw power. 

The latter is a good golfer and a dedicated fitness freak, a month shy of celebrating 

his 60th birthday. 

SXSW convention-goers get a rare chance to see both of his personae this 

week. First, the man born James Newell Osterberg will let his Ig-naceous guard 

down when he sits down for a one-on-one interview with Rolling Stone’s David 

Fricke on Friday. The following night, the Stooges’ kick off their U.S. tour as the 

headlining act at Stubbs BBQ. 

But though he can squeeze his rock personality back into the genie bottle when 

he’s not performing, Iggy is not an artificial artist; he’s the real deal. 

“The thing that makes him different is that, with most other rock stars, there’s 

still this sense that they’re posing, that they’re playing a character,” marvels 

New York Daily News music critic Jim Farber. “But Iggy’s not trying to be a 

character. He is the essence of that crazy, manic emotion, physicalized. He’s the 

incarnation of desire. Watching him is like watching an out-of-control animal 

– he’s a genius. There’s no other human being like him.” 

Adding to the all-Iggy-all-thetime 

maelstrom is the release 

next week of The Weirdness, 

the first full-length recorded 

studio album by the reunited 

Stooges in 34 years. (They 

recorded a few tracks together 

for Iggy’s last album, 2003’s 

Skull Ring.) 

It’s a different climate for the 

The Stooges 

Stooges now than it was in 

1973, when they issued their 

final studio album, Raw Power. None of the band’s three studio albums, which 

also included the 1969 self-titled debut and its 1970 follow-up, Fun House, sold 

well upon its release. 

But now, of course, it is the rare punk, metal or alternative act that does 

NOT cite Iggy and the Stooges as seminal influences. The Stooges may not 

have mainstream name-recognition, but their songs, and Iggy’s solo work, have 

been covered by everyone from the Sex Pistols, Richard Hell, and the Damned 

to Moby, the Replacements and Joan Jett, and have even been sampled by 

Snoop Dogg. 

Even the advertising community has been bitten, using Pop’s tunes to pitch 

Royal Caribbean cruises, Kellogg’s cereal, and Volkswagen cars, among other 

products. Talk about “The Weirdness.” 

“When you think about punk,” notes Farber, “what were the antecedents to 

the mid ’70s version? The New York Dolls in the early ’70s, and MC5 and Iggy 

Pop in the late ’60s. When you listen to what he did in Detroit in the ’60s, it 

sounds remarkably like contemporary punk, but there was nothing like it at the 

time. And even though he’s almost 60, he absolutely remains on the cutting 

edge. He’s bleeding on the cutting edge.” 

–Lance Gould 

Iggy Pop Interview Friday, March 16 at the Austin Convention Center 

The Stooges play Stubb’s BBQ Saturday, March 17 

It has been 20 years since Public Enemy’s 

debut album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show, 

was released, but Chuck D is still mad as 

hell: “We’re the Rolling Stones of the rap 

game. This is our 57th tour, and we’ve 

released four albums in the last two years. 

Our appearance at SXSW is gonna be the 

greatest rap show on earth. But it seems 

like the rest of the music world is totally 

oblivious to what’s going on with us. 

They pay attention to other indie music, 

but when it comes to hip-hop, they’re 

clueless!” 

When asked if the current-day music industry embraces hip-hop artists more 

than its 20th century predecessor, Chuck D laughs. “If I hear people talk 

about Tom Petty more than they talk about the Roots, that means there’s 

still a fundamental problem,” he says. “I’m not saying that Tom Petty’s not 

a great artist, but on the rap scene, if you’re not in the Top Ten, then you’re 

not worth coverage.” 

Expect him to address that topic, among others, during his appearance on 

the “Say It Loud, I’m What? and I’m Proud” panel, which will feature a discussion 

of the roles race and ethnic identity play in performers’ careers. 

“I’m a child of the ‘60s, so all that turbulence had a profound effect on the 

first 10 years of my life,” Chuck D explains. And this is illustrated by his fiery 

anthems such as “Fight the Power,” militant Public Enemy albums like It 

Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, and the incendiary book, Fight 

the Power: Rap, Race, and Reality, which he co-authored. 

An early advocate of file sharing, the Long Island-born rapper points out that 

since Public Enemy’s inception, he has kept abreast of the latest technological 

advances: “I was an early Internet junkie, and that format has become the 

playing field in my fight to get heard.” 

In 1999, he launched RapStation.com, an audio-visual site that includes free 

MP3 and ringtone downloads, social commentary and “How to” articles for 

would-be players in the rap business. He also runs SlamJamz.com, an online 

record label. “I’m more of a musical cat, with one foot in the ‘60s, and the 

other in the millennium,” he says. 

But while he explores new avenues to artistic independence, Chuck D has 

always kept his critical eye on the music establishment: “The bottom line is 

that these big record companies stay open by any means necessary. They’re 

out to get money. They don’t have real belief systems, or allegiances to 

anyone on the outside. With us artists, we’re creating something that’s ours 

forever, so we’ve got to believe in it.” 

“The recent DJ Drama bust signifies that hypocrisy,” he maintains, alluding 

to last month’s federal indictment against the Atlanta-based mix tape master. 

“Record companies are trying to get in line with the streets, and at the same 

time, they’re having a hard time coming to grips with all the technology 

shifts. There’s all this mixed logic running rampant in the music business.” 

–Andria Lisle 

The “Say It Loud, I’m What? and I’m Proud” panel, 

featuring Chuck D, along with Garland Jeffreys, 

Alejandro Escovedo and moderator Dave Marsh, 

Saturday, March 17 from 1:30 - 2:45pm 

Room 18ABC at the Austin Convention Center 

Public Enemy plays the Town Lake Stage at Auditorium Shores 

Friday, March 16 

SXSWorld Review / March 2007 37 

WALTER LEAPHART


Infuential artists among SXSW speakers 

Rickie Lee Jones 

Rickie Lee Jones’ long career has 

always been distinguished by her 

ability to work successfully in a 

variety of styles. 

Jones made her place in history 

almost 30 years ago when a song 

from her self-titled debut album 

called “Chuck E’s In Love” earned 

her a Best New Artist Grammy and 

put her on the cover of the Rolling 

Stone. But it was another song of 

a totally different style from that 

same record, a waltzy ode to “the 

man with the star” called “The 

Last Chance Texaco,” that earned 

her a Grammy nomination for Best Song. In 1989, she earned another Grammy 

winning performance for “Making Whoopee,” a sultry duet with Dr. John, 

which showcased another side to Jones’ talents. But perhaps her most unique 

album to date is her latest, The Sermon On Exposition Boulevard. 

LEE CANTELON 

What originally began as a spoken-word album based on Lee Cantelon’s The 

Words, a book assembled from communications and utterances from Jesus 

Christ, changed dramatically when Jones came into the studio to record what 

became The Sermon On Exposition Boulevard. Instead of reading the text to a 

musical track she had never heard, Jones began to sing, completely improvising 

while adding her own interpretation to the words on what became “Nobody 

Knows My Name,” the CD’s first track. 

“I remember that they had some content that led from here to there, but this 

was really a ‘whole impact’ idea that came out. And it was very thrilling,” says 

Jones. “Mostly it’s my impressions of what I read, what I feel, with pieces of 

the book.” 

Though everyone was excited by what they heard, it was another six months 

before Jones hired Beck producer Rob Schnapf to help complete the 13-song 

album that began in a loft on Exposition Boulevard in the heart of Los Angeles. 

“I was thinking of the sermon on the mound,” says Jones, explaining the 

album’s title in her inimitable Yogi Berra delivery. “The mound or the mount?” 

she asks jokingly. “You could use that if you were a baseball writer.” 

Locating the appropriate record label was another chore. “I had gone to a few 

places, but I didn’t get a spark of life or understanding,” she explains. “New 

West responded to the music really enthusiastically.” 

Oddly enough, Jones has never made an appearance before at SXSW, but this 

year, she will be interviewed at the conference and perform at New West’s label 

showcase.“ Bands really do want to go there to be seen and heard, so it must 

be an opportunity,” says Jones about SXSW. “I think it could be cool fun for 

me.” 

In addition to the CD, there is an extended version containing a DVD on the 

making of The Sermon On Exposition Boulevard, or as Jones calls it, “the 

enchanted version.” 

–Tim Basham 

Rickie Lee Jones will be interviewed 

by Jody Denberg at 11am Friday, 

March 16 

Merlin Offers New Global Advantages 

for Indie Artists 

With the major labels merging and new outlets for independent distribution 

growing, independent labels face the increasing challenge of how 

to assert their rights and take advantage of all that Web 2.0 has to offer 

without leaving money on the table. Enter the Worldwide Independent 

Network (WIN), the first trade body created to exclusively represent the 

rights and interests of the world’s independent music community. 

Founded in January 2006, WIN is comprised of a rapidly growing network 

of labels and independent trade bodies creating a unified front to 

compete in a fully global marketplace. Independent trade bodies such 

as the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), Association 

of Independent Music (AIM UK), and IMPALA (European consortium of 

independent labels and trade groups) are pooling their resources to create 

a coalition, which proves that “together, the independents are bigger than 

the largest major.” 

WIN takes its first big step with Merlin, the world’s first streamlined global 

independent licensing agency, which was announced at MIDEM 2007. 

Considering that the independent record sector is responsible for 29% of 

the world’s music market, Merlin’s one-stop licensing shop will offer easy 

access to repertoire from thousands of labels worldwide through a single 

point of contact, replacing the need to negotiate individual deals. 

Merlin will also level the playing field for indies with new and emerging 

media. Soon after its MIDEM launch, the organization announced its 

partnership with Snocap, which will enable indie artists throughout the 

world to sell music through MySpace using Snocap’s MyStore platform. 

“Merlin will give independents around the world the opportunity, through 

collective action, to achieve fair recompense for the use of their copyrights,” 

explains Merlin’s newly elected CEO Charles Caldas (formerly CEO 

of Shock Entertainment Group Australia). “Independent labels can put 

themselves into a position where they can actively, and on a level playing 

field, participate in the developments in licensing and revenue models.” 

Alison Wenham, President of WIN, sees Merlin as a great example of a 

collective approach to the new market conditions brought forward by the 

rise of non-traditional outlets. She notes that WIN’s goals include ensuring 

“that income generated from independent rights finds its way back to the 

rights owner.” 

As new distribution challenges face all players in the music industry, 

having a forward-looking plan is a must to stay alive in the splintering 

entertainment marketplace. 

As Caldas notes, “I believe that the creation of Merlin is one of the most 

important developments we have ever seen within the independent 

sector. We are creating a service that will be of immense use and value to 

the businesses that license repertoire, now and into the future ...” 

– Leah Selvidge 


Digital technology enables anyone and everyone to be an artist and an innovator. 

Compensate artists. Oppose technology restrictions. Stand up for our digital freedom. 

www.digitalfreedom.org 

Red House Records 

at SXSW! 

WHERE ROOTS MEET THE HERE AND NOW 

RED HOUSE RECORDS 

OFFICIAL SHOWCASE 

Thursday, March 15th, 9 p.m.-2 a.m. 

Hilton Hotel-18th Floor 

500 East 4th Street 

RED HOUSE RECORDS/ 

SIGNATURE SOUNDS PARTY 

Friday, March 16th, 12-6 p.m. 

Mother Egan’s Irish Pub 

715 West 6th Street 

NO BADGES REQUIRED! 

With live performances by JIMMY LAFAVE, 

ELIZA GILKYSON, STORYHILL, THE PINES, 

LYNN MILES and RAY BONNEVILLE! 


Ponderosa Stomp visits 

Austin on road home 

to The Big Easy 

By John Ratliff 

Jay Chevalier 

Ray Sharpe 

GENE TOMKO 

Y 

ou will understand the 

premise if you’ve ever seen 

record collectors with their 

collections of prized 45s. One by 

one, shiny pieces of musical history 

are placed on the turntable as the 

collectors attempt to blow each 

other’s minds with obscure gems, 

deranged relics and singles so perfect 

that only an international criminal 

conspiracy could explain their failure 

to become hits. 

Now, imagine those same people with 

a telephone and a night of music to 

book, and you have the idea behind 

the Ponderosa Stomp, a New Orleans 

musical mainstay since 2002 that 

returns to SXSW this year. But while 

last year’s Austin edition was colored 

by the event’s exile from New Orleans 

after the devastation of Hurricane 

Katrina, this year’s SXSW show is 

a prelude to the Ponderosa Stomp’s 

triumphant Crescent City return, 

scheduled for May 2. 

Barbara Lynn 

Typically, the SXSW lineup is a 

mixtape from heaven in human form, 

including Barbara Lynn (“You’ll Lose 

a Good Thing”), Motown guitar hero 

Dennis Coffey (“Scorpio”), Li’l Buck 

and the Top Cats (featuring zydeco 

royalty Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural), 

and New Orleans legend Willie Tee. 

Other performers on the bill are 

Ray Sharpe, Jay Chevalier and the 

Haunted Hearts, Herb Remington, 

Tammy Lynn, Rockie Charles, Bobby 

Patterson, Wiley and the Checkmates, 

Harvey Scales and a special appearance 

by Flaming Arrows Mardi Gras 

Indians with special guest Big Chief 

Roddy of the Black Eagles. 

“It’s pretty much limited to three to 

five people’s tastes,” admits Ira “Dr. 

Ike” Padnos. Dr. Ike, an assistant professor 

of anesthesiology at Louisiana 

State University, is also the spokesperson 

for The Mystic Knights of the 

Mau-Mau, the nonprofit organization 

that runs the Stomp. “We talk about 

who we’d like to get, and we have a 

couple of people on the wish list.” 

The taste of the Knights seems to run 

toward what critic Greil Marcus once 

referred to as “the old, weird America” 

and is less concerned with genre 

distinctions than with, as Dr. Ike says, 

“whether they’ve still got it.” 

Past Stompers include such iconoclasts 

as Blowfly, Tony Joe White, 

Link Wray, the Sun Ra Arkestra, 

New Orleans arranger and songwriter 

Wardell Quezerque (“the Creole 

Beethoven”), and Elvis sidemen Scotty 

Moore and D.J. Fontana. This year’s 

New Orleans edition will feature 

Roky Erickson, Little Jimmy Scott, 

Augie Meyers and numerous other 

luminaries. And of course, there are 

always names the Knights would love 

to book, such as Ike Turner, Duane 

Eddy, Lonnie Mack and the nowailing 

Lee Hazlewood. 

But as the Stomp grows in popularity, 

rounding up the top choices becomes 

easier. “One of the hardest was 

Freddie Roulette,” says Dr. Ike. “That 

was about 12 phone calls. But now it’s 

a lot easier because people who have 

played for us will say, ‘I know where 

this guy is.’” 

The collector’s mixtape mentality 

extends not only to the lineup, but 

to the setlists as well. “About 20 to 30 

minutes a set,” says Dr. Ike. “All killer, 

no filler.” 

Those words from Dr. Ike certainly 

apply to both the SXSW version of 

the Ponderosa Stomp and the full 

This year’s SXSW show is a 

prelude to the Ponderosa 

Stomp’s triumphant Crescent 

City return on May 2. 

New Orleans return just six short 

weeks from now. The drums will 

kick in, the singer will lay down the 

first line, and music lovers will turn 

to each other in sheer disbelieving 

delight, saying “I don’t believe I’ve 

never heard this!” n 



Austin springs eternal for Nordic bands 

By Jan Andersson 

“S 

pring break. That’s what 

SXSW is,” said Division 

of Laura Lee singer, Per 

Ståhlberg, when asked to describe the 

allure of Austin to artists from the 

Nordic countries of Sweden, Norway, 

Finland, Denmark and Iceland. 

And he should know, having left the 

depressing Swedish winter to play 

SXSW no fewer than eight times. 

But though Ståhlberg and his band 

will miss this year’s conference, there 

will still be a diverse and impressive 

contingent of Nordic artists on hand. 

One of the better known returning 

bands is Swedish rock sensation, 

Sahara Hotnights. Having played the 

conference twice before, singer Marie 

Andersson is really looking forward to 

their third SXSW gig: “This time we’re 

on our own label and hoping to cut a 

new deal here in the States. So we are 

all geared up and ready to spread the 

gospel of Scandinavian rock.” 

And the women of Sahara Hotnights 

are not the only ones leaving the 

snow and cold for a couple of hazy 

days in Austin. 

Frida Hyvönen (Sweden) 

Three years ago, everybody in Sweden 

was talking about Frida Hyvönen. 

Sahara Hotnights 

Nothing was recorded and she had 

no website, but after a few gigs in 

Stockholm, the buzz was all over the 

place. “I remember. That was really 

absurd,” she recently said to The 

Gothenburg Post. 

Now the theatrical and sensitive 

singer/pianist has two records out, is 

touring all over the U.S. and Europe, 

and plays an important part in the 

contemporary Swedish music scene. 

She has left her little hometown of 

Robertsfors, where Sahara Hotnights 

also hail from, and is currently 

looking for a big house somewhere 

close to Stockholm. “It doesn’t have 

to be beautiful, but I want plenty 

of rooms and space enough to stroll 

around in,” she says. 

Ane Brun (Norway) 

She could have been terribly pretentious 

and sentimental (sometimes 

the music aims that way), but Ane 

Brun always manages to 

stay clear of such traps. 

Regardless of whether she 

is bringing an entire string 

quartet on stage or just her 

Morgan guitar; no matter 

if she is singing with 

Wendy McNeil and Ron 

Sexsmith or all by herself; 

whether she is covering PJ 

Harvey or the finishing 

aria from Purcell’s opera 

Dido and Aeneas, Brun is 

pushing the limits in an 

impressive way. To quote 

our Kazakh television journalist 

friend: “I like.” 

22 Pisterpirkko (Finland) 

Their latest record, Drops 

& Kicks, is produced by Kalle 

Gustavsson from The Soundtrack 

of Our Lives, but despite that 

arena rock connection, when the 

Keränen brothers (Asko and PK) 

and drummer Espe Haverinen try to 

describe their music, they use words 

such as “swamp blues,” “synth rock,” 

“pop” and “electronica with a touch 

of dance music.” Yes, the music is as 

varied as the trio’s legendary performances, 

which can be heavenly or 

hellish, depending on the whimsical 

brothers’ mood. But one thing is for 

sure, the 22-dotted Ladybug from 

Helsinki is never boring. 

Under Byen (Denmark) 

Singer Henriette Sennenvaldt sounds 

like an elf from Mirkwood, one of 

those bleak and big-eared bores in the 

Lord of the Rings, but in a good way, 

like a low-key Sigur Ros. She sings 

in Danish and together with a cello, 

violin, two drummers and a piano, 

she and her band, Under Byen, make 

for quite an extraordinary experience 

on stage. Theirs is the sound of poetic 

solitude, of emptiness, of distress on 

Desolation Row. 

Hera (Iceland) 

For many years Icelandic music was 

synonymous with rocker legend 

Bubbi Morthens, and no one else. 

Then the Sugarcubes erupted with 

eccentric singers Einar Örn and 

Björk, and after that Gus Gus 

and Sigur Ros with their made-up 

language. Now we turn our eyes and 

ears towards the Icelandic mainstream 

again, namely Hera. The 22-year-old 

classical guitarist is one of the most 

talented songwriters to ever come 

out of Iceland, and her music is soft, 

sparse and immensely beautiful. n 

Under Byen 


SXSW.mobi: the SXSW mobile site 

SXSW is proud to announce SXSW.mobi, a mobile destination with everything you need 

to enhance your on-the-go SXSW 2007 experience. Browse to SXSW.mobi from your mobile 

device or web-enabled phone to get up-to-date schedules, mp3s, video clips, podcasts, news and more. 

SXSW.mobi/schedules 

This is the best place to find the Music Festival Schedule, Film Festival 

Schedule, and Panels Schedules for Interactive, Film and Music. The idea 

is to make all the schedules you would find on sxsw.com also available on 

sxsw.mobi/schedules but formatted for your mobile device. We understand 

that being at SXSW means you are constantly moving. Sometimes it is 

not convenient to use a full-size computer to plot your next move. Now you 

can use your smartphone. 

SXSW.mobi/audio 

This section will feature podcasts from interactive, film and music panels as 

well as mp3s from your favorite SXSW bands. There’s nothing like listening 

to a band you just heard about before deciding to trek across town to see 

them live! 

SXSW.mobi/video 

Here you will find video clips of film trailers, panels, interviews and 

more. If you have a few minutes to kill between panels, watch a clip from 

something you may have missed. Many of the films screening at SXSW 2007 

feature a trailer you can watch right on your mobile device. 

SXSW.mobi/tools 

Go to the tools section to access the Mobile Registrant Directory. 

Connect with other registrants, send messages and plan your meetings in 

advance. Trying to meet with a fellow registrant at a party when you’ve 

never met in person before? Find them on the Mobile Registrant Directory, 

and if they have uploaded a badge photo, you can see what they look like. 

If you consume content and 

browse the web on your mobile 

device, check out SXSW.mobi. 

We built it just for you. 

While you’re logged into the Mobile Registrant Directory, sign up for SMS 

alerts to stay in-the-know about last minute schedule changes, special 

events, breaking news and more! SXSW will customize your alerts according 

to your badge type.

SXSWorld

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?