Bumping in Texas

Thurston Moore ran smack into Nate Kranz on 6th Street in Austin, TX, last night...Fact! Although Kranz and Sonia Grover see rock gods all the time booking bands at First Avenue, there's still nothing like running into your hero on the street. We briefly considered stalking him, but instead agreed to go see him, J. Mascis, etc. at a party later today doing a set of Lou Reed covers.

And so begins another awesome SXSW, running into stars plus everyone you know from Minneapolis. Before the Moore bump-in last night, we went to the Free Yr Radio party at La Zona Rosa. Times New Viking were playing (Nate loves them). They're a three piece - keyboards, surf guitar, drums. Sarah Askari from City Pages said she was amazed to discover there was a girl in the band. Apparently their records are just noisy enough to blur gender. I was there to see Yeasayer. Their vocals are so beautiful, and the hippy vibe was tolerable. It's a mystery, though, why the guitar player, who is really good, would spend half the set just standing there pushing a sample button. I'm kind of old school about that.

And so too begins the non-stop text messaging. Alison Stolpa, another TC pal who is co-hosting tomorrow's Modern Radio showcase, texted from The Slits show. Said it was "English girls doing reggae rock"--the focus now of the '70s punk girl group. They're playing a lot this festival.

Got to get to The Current's broadcast to see The Raveonettes at 11 a.m. yeah! And Motorhead is playing a show later today. I'll let you know if I score a Lemmy siting.