Neal:
>
>Do you include the Bottle Rockets, who played right before the Pups at that
>same venue, in your string of breathtaking shows? I'm curious because I
>thought the were pretty awful, as well as arrogant as hell, refusing to play
>*any* old material at all and practically taunting they they were twangless.
>What was left was southern and crotch rock not unlike Radar Gun, which is the
>band at its worst. imho. And then there was that one song that was so
>rudimentary in its rhymes that you had to wonder if it was real. Me and
>Copetas sure had fun playing "guess the next line" during that one, which I
>don't think was the reaction the band had intended.
>
I was afraid that sentence would be read wrong; I should have said "a
pretty solid, *though* not breathtaking, string of shows...." What I
meant, in fact, was that very little that I saw at SXSW knocked my socks
off. I thought Hayseed was wonderful, even though I left in the middle to
go see the Damnations), and Hillbilly IDOL, who I saw only at an in-store,
were a highlight, as were Slobberbone, Amy Rigby, the Meat Pervs, and a few
other acts. But I saw a lot of fine-but-ordinary shows too. And though I
didn't feel as venomous about them as Neal did, I thought the Bottle
Rockets were definitely "off" at Liberty Lunch that night. Robbie Fulks,
who preceded them, was a pleasure, as always, and Reckless Kelly, who
preceded him, were much better than I'd expected. But the BRox were a big
letdown, as were the Meat Puppets.
--Amy
