Rather than partake in the SXSW 2006 Saturday events, I played the Austin WPBT Invitational Dos. I wasn’t really feeling poker all week, but I had already decided that I was going to the tournament, so there was no turning back now. On the way, I was somewhat thankful though because the weather was shitty and I was glad I wasn’t wandering around trying to find an indoor venue for SXSW day shows.

April had asked me to pick up Ryan for the tourney. I made all the shuttle arrangements with Ryan and would have been there on time, if it hadn’t been for Back to the Future being on as I was about to leave. I can’t leave the house before Marty gets the Delorean up to 88 miles per hour and gets away from the Libyans. This is (somewhat) important later.

After arriving late, we finally got everything underway. I have to say, Adam not only puts on a great live tourney, he also makes some damn good salsa and I’m not just saying that because I had been on a four day diet of beer, rum, pizza, and bratwursts. When I finally paid, I realized that my seat draw sucked: Heather was immediately to my left, April next to her and Eva directly across from me.

Luckily I didn’t have to worry about it for too long because I lucked out and went set over set to bust Heather a few hands in. Another round later, I hit quads. Things were looking on the up-and-up. After the break, tables were condensed and I found myself sandwiched between Ryan and Scott. That’s when the magic happened.

From UTG, I made a 3xBB bet. It folds all the way around to Scott, who pushes all-in. He was somewhat short-stacked, so I thought he had high cards and was making a move on me. I looked down at my cards one more time, 8-8. No one calls Marty McFly a chicken. I informed Scott that I was only calling this hand because Back to the Future was on earlier and flipped up my 8s. Scott showed 4-4 and the 8 on the flop sealed the deal for me. Scott had a bounty of two ACL tickets so it looks like I’m going to ACL this year.

Shortly after that, this picture was taken by Scott:

(that’s me celebrating my short stint as chipleader)

A few minutes later, everything turns to shit. In early position, I call with 8-7c. Ryan calls, player across from me doubles the bet, everyone folds, Ryan and I call. Flop comes A-7-6 with two diamonds. Everyone checks. Turn off-suit 5, giving me second pair with the straight draw and I bet 2/3 the pot. Ryan smooth calls and the original raiser folds. River (4) completes my straight and misses the diamond flush draw. I lead in with 1k, Ryan pushes all-in for another 3.5k (I think). Reading this now, I know that I should have folded. I call immediately (because I’m an idiot) and Ryan shows 8-9 for the nuts.

A few hands later I bust out to John (Slayre) when my pocket 2s don’t hold up. Such is life.

And thus continues my terrible streak of WPBT finishes. I need to start practicing for Vegas. This time, I’m staying away from the craps tables. Well, at least for a few hours.

Today’s surprise highlights: The Saturday Knights. Find me another rap group that sings over “Where is my Mind” by the Pixies and I’ll probably like them too. They aren’t even playing the festival, they were just here for the day show. Quintron and Miss Pussycat – they’re badasses. Yelling “you’re awesome” at Wayne Coyne as I saw him walking down sixth street. I’m an obnoxious drunk.

I actually saw a surprisingly large number of shows today. Some were completely forgettable. Others were not. The girl from The Forecast rocks harder than any other girl I’ve ever seen live. If you wish Rainer Maria were more punk, they’re for you. Silversun Pickups show was dampered by the terrible sound, but they are still really good. And the lead singer is hilarious. They were good enough that I actually went to Spiro’s to see them. No foam machine running though, so I guess I didn’t really experience Spiro’s. I’ll save that for another time when I’ve had too much to drink.

Oh yeah, Day 2. It’s too much work to look up all the names of the bands that I saw, so I’ll stick with the stuff I remember off the top of my head:

Victory Grill is within walking distance of downtown. It’s not worth waiting 15 minutes for a $4 cab ride. The Vice Kills Texas day party was awesome. Particularly the part where they had free beer and free whiskey. The music was pretty good too. Tarantula AD shreds the cello. I’m not jello, but I thought they were good. Rahim were good, as expected.

From there back to Emo’s Annex to see Helmet. They are still one of the tightest bands I’ve ever seen. Got there just in time to catch the last few songs, including Milktoast. They’re still really loud.

Cabbed it up to ACL Studios to see the Silversun Pickups perform for live KEXP. Un-fucking-believable. They’re good. For real.

Cabbed it back downtown to catch Rahim again. They’re still good. As expected. I got their new cd, which is going on sale April 4th. I even had to manually put in the track names it’s so fucking new. I’m an insider.

Film School – saw them last year. They’re still good. Even better this year I think. At Club Deville I made my favorite mistaken statement of the night, “I’d like a glassful of head, please.” Definition 16 people, get your minds out of the gutter.

Passed on catching any 10pm shows because I had to make sure I saw The Gathering. Rock the goth music. They’re awesome, even if they are foreign.

The Sound Team and The Cloud Room – the best way to end my Thursday night.

Mobile blogger totally screwed up my live blogging updates, so we’ll see if I can piece them together now.

3:00 pm – It’s go time!

I got a ridiculously late start because I’m a jackass and stayed up way too late the night before SXSW drinking. When will I ever learn?

5:45 pm – Red Eyed Fly – Watching Calla. It isn’t even dark yet and I’ve already seen puke in a urinal. It’s going to be a good night.

7:20 pm – Calla is over. Time for food. And a quick stop at Mugshots for a shot. First slice of Hoake’s pizza.

8:22 pm – Oklahoma bands represent! Stardeath and White Dwarfs were surprisingly good, despite the long name. I need to listen to them some more.

9:14 pm – Pela were alright. My buzz is starting to go away and the Fox and Hound is starting to get packed.

10:30 pm – My buzz is really gone now and the Czars aren’t my favorite. To make it even worse their sound is totally fucked.

11:02 pm – The Flaming Lips finally come on.

Wayne Coyne motherfucker

Amazing is all I can say. This is what I love about South by Southwest, seeing bands up close and personal. Having the opportunity to see the Flaming Lips in a venue where I am literally touching the stage is icing on the cake. I’m covered in confetti. They brought the rock. I don’t have the words to describe it now.

12:15 am – Hungry again, hit the Best Wurst for…well, the best wurst.

12:30 am – Catch the end of the Talkdemonic set. They sounded interesting before and catching the end of their set was worthwhile. It’s a drummer and a violin player (no vocals), so it’s not for everyone, but I can imagine myself doing a lot of work (or poker playing) with this stuff on.

1:20 am – The Velvet Teen had the last set of the night. We were tired, they were loud. Not a good combination. Time to head home to get some sleep (yeah, right).

Now I’m going to sleep for real. There’s nothing on tv anyway.

A 24″ widescreen monitor. That’s four non-overlapping poker windows open at once boys and girls. God I want to be home trying it out right now. And for you obnoxious bastards that will surely comment: yes, I know I could get the same results with a 19″ monitor if I ran my resolution higher, but I’m blind dammit! Maybe this larger monitor will make it tolerable to play Full Tilt tables. If I could just convince them to get rid of the player icons and make the cards bigger, I’d be there more often.

According to the CMJ update I just received, Rainer Maria will be playing at the CMJ Texas Tea Party at Room 710 at 2pm. I won’t be able to make it, but everyone else should go.

Use the recommendations at your own risk. I’ve never seen any of these people play live and I’m just going on samples I’ve heard online and reviews.

Rahim (SXSW link) (myspace link): I first heard of these guys when I was listening to my Minus the Bear radio station on pandora (which everyone should be listening to). Their bio actually does them some justice. I can definitely hear the DC/Dischord influences. So if you have a crazy infatuation with Fugazi and Jawbox like I do, then you’re probably going to like Rahim. Check out the songs on the myspace page.

I will likely be attending their Thursday afternoon show at Victory Grill, Vice Kills Texas. I just RSVP’ed on the Vice Kills website, though I have no idea what that’s supposed to do for me. Check out the rest of the line up on Thursday and let me know if you plan on going.

drunk skating officially more fun than sober skating

Starting with bands I’ve seen before, here’s my recommendations:

Rainer Maria (SXSW link) – I’ve now seen them twice – first at SXSW 2005 and then later when they opened for Copeland. Their performance is awesome. They have a ton of material out there, but I swear it’s better live than on their albums. Their show is at Karma this year which sucks because it’s so far away from 6th and far from every other club, but I guess I’m going to have to make the journey. Maybe they’ll play a day show.

Best Fwends (SXSW Link) – These guys cracked my shit up last year. Listening to their newer songs in myspace only makes me want to see them more.

Minus the Bear (SXSW Link) – Minus the Bear is one of my favorite bands. I’ve seen them twice now and I’m still in awe at the lead guitarists tapping skills. I wouldn’t doubt it if he knew every “…And Justice for All” solo by heart. They’re playing an awesome day show on Saturday (as Brian mentioned previously), unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) I’m going to be playing the Austin WPBT II so I won’t be able to catch them.

…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead (SXSW Link) – I’m not sure how many times I’ve seen these guys, but I know I was ripped every time I saw them. If you’ve never seen Trail of Dead before, I’d recommend seeing them once. I’m going to have to pass on this one though because I’ve seen them a number of times and I’m sure it’s going to be insanely crowded.

There are a lot of other bands I’ve seen before that will be playing and that I would recommend, but I’m feeling a bit lazy at the moment and I really need to get to sleep.

SXSW is coming up soon and I’m super excited. Brian has set up a SXSW Music blog which he’s been kind enough to let me post on. So as I finally start getting my plans together for the week, I’ll be cross-posting my recommendations there. Go there and get everyone else’s picks too. First though, I’ll repost my commentary from last year:

SXSW 2005, Day 1: I want to be in a cover band
SXSW 2005, Day 2: It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye
SXSW 2005, Day 3: Makes the homies say ho and all the girlies want to scream
SXSW 2005, Day 4: I am not the World Trade Center