Friday started as a tangle that unraveled quickly. I had wanted to check out the
Bitch Mediaday party to see Thao, but that was a bit off the beaten path. I also wanted to check out whatever F-bomb-laden carpet-bombing of chillwave bloggers and Biz3 publicists that music-critical hellraiser Christopher Weingarten had prepared for his talk at the Austin Convention Center. Or maybe I wanted to see Wye Oak. As it turned out, I took too long writing
my Thursday recapand missed out on all of that, especially because Weingarten's talk was on Thursday. As you can see, I had my schedule really worked out right down to the minute. But I did make it to Mohawk for the A.V. Club day party.
I had already missed Tristen and a few other bands (including Wye Oak), but got there in time for Sharon Van Etten. I had already seen her (along with, you know, Don Draper) on Wednesday, but her next tour skips Nashville, and to be honest, I wasn't sure if twice would be enough for me. Van Etten and band looked like they had gotten some sun, and for the first song or two her voice seemed a little raw. But it didn't take long for SVE and crew to kick things into gear, and she had a large, appreciative audience out on the patio hanging on her every word. She introduced "Don't Do It" by saying, "I wrote this next song about my stage banter." (I think she might have been joking.) On hand were Michael "Yewknee" Eades, a friend with a delightfully asymmetrical haircut who was introduced to me, fittingly so, as "Tall Jessica," and a fellow whose name escapes me, who used to live across the street from that monument in Murfreesboro that people would pee on to try to break the Curse of the Boro. Richard and Ed Baluyut of Versus were also in the crowd, and I heard several people call Van Etten "amazing" after her set. Co-sign.
