Diary of a SXSW Newbie: Austin Music Festival Day Three, AKA the Day of Small Miracles (And Usher!)

Posted on Mar 16th 2013 2:00PM by Sarah Chazan

Sarah Chazan

Follow along daily as Spinner Editor Sarah takes on SXSW for the very first time.

Day Three: "Friday is when the weekend people come," a person snidely said to me at a show Thursday night. While I wasn't exactly sure what that meant, it didn't sound great, so expectations for my third day at SXSW were pretty low. Boy, did I have a surprise coming to me.

I started the morning under the covers, writing yesterday's diary entry, and by the time I emerged into the Austin sun, it was already in the 80s. Now if you read my adventures from day two at SXSW, you know I love me some barbecue. But sometimes, well, a girl just needs something lighter ... especially in this heat. Sushi it was, and luckily for me, there happened to be a Japanese joint right across from my hotel. I met one of Spinner's business peeps, Audrey Davidson, for lunch and devoured three delicious rolls and an octopus salad. During our meal, the restaurant blared music from the White Stripes, Radiohead and Band of Horses -- three of my favorite bands -- things were looking up already for ominous Friday.

After lunch, Audrey and I walked west for a pseudo-business meeting with a potential partner (it's not all fun and games down here at SXSW). But much to my surprise, our contact had other plans in mind. She was headed back east to Stubb's for the Spin showcase featuring Solange and Kendrick Lamar -- one of the hottest tickets of the day -- and had scored us two extra passes! So back we headed, to the spot where just 12 hours earlier I'd rocked out to Dave Grohl and the Sound City Players. When we arrived at the show, our passes got us right in, no problem. Miracle.

Solange was three songs into her set by the time we got settled, and I was about five Diet Cokes into my day. I love Solange, but dancing like a maniac to "Losing You" wasn't helping my full bladder situation, so as soon as her set ended, I ran like a crazy woman to the Port-o-Potty line. First door I opened, no toilet paper. Second door, no TP and some ungodly foulness that I won't bother describing. Door three, brand new roll of toilet paper AND clean (by Port-o-Potty standards). All the ladies out there know, this is truly a public restroom miracle!

Audrey and I stuck around for Kendrick's set and during his first song, this epic text message conversation began to appear on my phone's screen. It wasn't just me having a kick-ass day of tiny miracles at SXSW:

Adam Horne (Spinner Artist Relations): True story. I just met the woman who hired the original "Simpsons" cast and she invited me to a taping.

Theo Bark (Spinner RPM Editor): Wowowowowowowow

Adam: Coolest thing that's ever happened to me.

Cameron Matthews (Spinner Associate Editor): I feel like we're all doing well at SXSW.

Adam: I'm also standing next to Pharrell. Today wins.

Cameron: And then I found 5 dollars.

Me: A ladybug just landed on me!

So yeah, the Spinner crew was having a great day. And Kendrick was killing it on stage. And then I ran into THREE people I knew at Stubb's -- which for a SXSW Newbie was pretty incredible. I should have gone and played the lottery right then and there.

But I didn't. Instead, Audrey and I headed back west to check out "Sing-Off' a cappella winners Pentatonix at the Live Nation VIP lounge. (Don't hate, hipster cool kids -- they were actually pretty amazing.) On the way there, we came across a commotion on 6th Street. A huge crowd had formed around one man, walking slowly with a camera crew down the middle of the road. Was it a famous rock star, beautiful starlet, indie rock hero? No. It was Pauly Shore. Pauly Shore was able to draw huge crowds in the middle of SXSW in 2013. Now THAT's a miracle for him.

Around 6:30 the sun was setting and I hustled across the highway to meet Spinner Editor Dan Reilly, Theo Bark and Adam Horne at the Fader Fort for the Afghan Whigs show. When I arrived, the line for general admission stretched about a half-mile back. Crossing my fingers and silently praying to myself, I walked past towards to press line at the other side of the Fort. Thankfully, the line wasn't nearly as long ... but it wasn't short either. Since Dan and I had both been to the Fader Fort yesterday, we still had on our wristbands. After waiting only a few short minutes, a publicist shouted out over the crowd, "IF YOU ALREADY HAVE PINK WRISTBANDS, COME TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE." And just like that, we were in. Miracle.

Now I had never seen the Afghan Whigs perform live, but Theo promised me it was going to be a show I'd never forget. He was right. The Whigs came out and immediately laid down a set so powerful, I could feel it vibrating in my lungs. People had been telling me all day that there was going to be a special surprise at the show, and about halfway through, R&B star Usher appeared onstage with the band and closed out the set with them, finishing with his club hit "OMG." Now an Usher/Afghan Whigs SXSW collab isn't exactly a miracle, but it sure as shit is randomly unexpected!

Dan had been hungry since we got to the Fort, so after the show, I took him and Adam to Food Truck Village and introduced them to the tacos I'd had the night before. I decided to be adventurous and opted for some fried fare from the Evil Wiener truck. But unlike the night before, I didn't have to sit in a broken glass-covered field to eat my dinner. There was a picnic table wide open for Dan, Adam and I. OK, I'm just going to say it ... miracle!

After sufficiently stuffing our faces, we set out in search of a small showcase far off the beaten SXSW path. We wandered through an East Austin neighborhood for awhile before finally finding the Long Branch Inn for the Diarrhea Planet (yes, that's really their name) show. "I just went from Usher to Diarrhea Planet," I thought to myself. I love SXSW.

The band put down on an amazing show ... quite possibly one of the best live acts I've seen yet at the fest. But as I stood on the edge of an impromptu mosh pit, the long and awesome day started to take it's toll. With beer cans flying past my head, I made my way out of the bar and started the long walk home. 20 minutes later, I was back at my hotel the earliest I'd been all week ... before 11:30 pm. If that isn't a SXSW miracle, I don't know what is!

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