I saw The Drums last night at Stubbs during my second-to-last night at SXSW, and I gots to admit I fell a wee bit in love. A queer 80s-sounding quartet from Brooklyn, not only do they have loads of sonic charisma and catchy lyrics… they’re also all really, really hot:
Since it was not an official SXSW event, I’m free to post this video from “Hole”‘s performance at SXSW yesterday… I was excitedly expecting trainwreckness, but instead Courtney was totally on it: Lucid, vocally strong and intentionally hilarious (“I just came!” she screamed after finishing “Miss World”). While the tenish song set was mostly new Hole - which is decent I suppose but definitely not the Hole I knew and loved - Courtney managed rousing inclusions of aforesaid “Miss World” and one of my favorite songs of all time, “Violet.” She ended things off below, with the best of the new songs, “Samantha,” and some perfect Courtney Love bitchiness. Enjoy:
I’d assume most of you who frequent film festivals have felt my current pain. Half-way through this year’s SXSW, I woke up with a cold/flu type thing that has basically fucked over the past 3 days. It makes sense. You’re malnourished and sleep-deprived so you’re immune system is iffy to begin with… then add that to being exposed to 1,000s of people in contained spaces and you’re basically asking for it. I usually am a bit more on the defence. Vital Greens, oregano oil, hand sanitizer and Cold FX are all staples of Sundance, Toronto and the like, and have very rarely failed me. But I had my guard down in Austin, and sure enough - I woke up in the middle of Tuesday night feeling like death. Now, I have wagered on to some degree… and thus feel since I have been blog AWOL for the past few days, I’ll share what I’ve learned as a result.
Basically, there are four options one is faced with when this situation:
1. Go home. Switch your flight and get the fuck out of there.
Pros:
-Your own bed (!)
-Loved ones to take care of you.
-No stressing about all the festival shit happening around you that you either are too sick to attend or attend high on DayQuil.
Cons:
-It’s probably gonna be expensive.
-You’re probably fucking over your job.
-If you get better quicker than you though you would, you’re gonna be pissed off you’re not still at the festival.
2. Medicate with DayQuil/NyQuil or other preferred cold and flu medications.
Pros:
-You’ll feel relatively better.
-You’ll probably be able to fulfill at least some of whatever professional duties you have at the festival.
-Your sleeps will be amazing.
Cons:
-You’ll be loopy and out-of-it for days and potentially make strange social impressions.
-The duties you fulfill at work might be done so haphazardly as a result of strange thought processes.
-It’s simply suppressing the sickness and you might not get better as quickly.
3. Medicate with alcohol and illegal substances
Pros:
-You’ll definitely feel better (when under the influence).
-You’ll still have fun.
-Mixing with #2 can provide a particularly escapist couple of hours.
Cons:
-You’ll definitely feel worse (when you regain sobriety… though I guess you don’t have to do that).
-You might not make a good impression professionally.
-You’re probably prolonging the illness considerably.
4. Curl up in a ball, take in lots of liquids and herbal supplements, and let it pass as quickly as possible.
Cons:
-The boringest option.
-You’ll feel a horrible sense of missing out on social events and feel like a loser.
-You’ll probably feel stressed out and behind professionally.
-You’ll be doing this outside of the comforts of your home/a familiar environment which some people (me) get anxiety about.
I seriously had no idea that videos of panels at SXSW are not allowed to be published online. I’m sure there was plenty of reminders of this rule that I ignorantly failed to read or hear and for that I am truly sorry to the SXSW organizers. Anyway, as a result, I’ve taken down all six of my SXSW blog posts in their entirety… because every one of them was centered around shitty flip cam videos. I’m kinda burned out re: writing this blog anyway, so instead of making up for it somehow, I’m just gonna be AWOL for a bit and enjoy the music half of SXSW for all that it’s worth.
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