It's all over.
South By Southwest 2009 wrapped on Sunday, and we're back in New York, picking through the hours of tape we shot, reminiscing about the good times (check out our favorite SXSW moments) and trying very hard not to fall asleep on our keyboards. This is proving more difficult than I had imagined.
Because after the week-long party that is SXSW, there's the inevitable hangover. And, well, right now, that hangover is fierce — and I don't even drink!
I slept 10 hours last week. On Saturday night, I didn't sleep at all, as we wrapped production at 4:30 a.m., then headed right to the airport for our 7 a.m. flight. The scene at Austin-Bergstrom International was like something out of "Dawn of the Dead," with bands, publicists and hipsters wandering around the terminal like zombies, shoveling breakfast tacos into their mouths. There were bodies sprawled on the floor, heads buried in hooded sweatshirts, sunglasses covering bloodshot eyes. It was like one gigantic commercial for Promises. And it's only gotten worse since then!
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By Andrew Ross Rowe
If one man was to build a completely new musical genre, they would have to be pretty talented. Craig Brewer, the man behind films like "Hustle and Flow" and "Black Snake Moan," which positively seep with the music of the South -- both old and new -- is probably the man to produce it.
Brewer's new Memphis-based Web series $5 Cover exposes the nitty-gritty heart of a town with music flowing through its aorta. "I'd like to believe that Memphis should be a genre itself" Brewer points out.
This is not such an easy task when your town cradles rock acts like Lucero, hip-hop acts like Al Kapone and noirish crooners like Amy LaVere. How can so many genres co-exist as one?
"The $5 Cover show is really about Memphis. Yeah we have rap and yeah, we have rock and roll. And we have singer song writers, but I really like to believe that Memphis itself should be a genre. ... It's more of the spirit of the city is reflected in the sound."
But what is it about Memphis that really binds these musicians together?
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You might not be aware of this if you are one of the 9 million wussy indie dudes here in Austin for South By Southwest, but in addition to having a rather amazing music scene (which is documented in director Craig Brewer's upcoming Web series, $5 Cover), Memphis is also home to a pretty terrific college basketball team, too: the University of Memphis Tigers.
The Tigers finished the regular season 33-3, won their fourth-straight Conference USA title, and earned a #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Oh, and on Saturday night, they beat the University of Maryland to advance to the Sweet 16. This is a big deal, trust me.
So naturally, when MTV News came out to cover a Memphis Music Showcase at the Dirty Dog Bar (featuring $5 Cover artists like Lucero, Al Kapone and Two Way Radio), I had to ask some of the best musicians in M-Town about the fortunes of their hometown team. Were they overcome with the fever-like symptoms of March Madness like I was? And did they like the Tigers to win it all?
Of course. Well, at least the ones who had any idea what I was talking about, anyway ...
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On director Craig Brewer's new Web series $5 Cover, Amy LaVere portrays a real-life Memphis Belle, a sweet-voiced singer-songwriter who pens songs in her underwear and has had her heart broken one too many times.
In the real world, she's exactly the same. Though we can't vouch for the whole underwear thing.
Growing up on the Texas/Louisiana border, LaVere drifted to Detroit as a teenager, fronted a punk act, then eventually landed in Memphis, where she released a Country-tinged solo album and eventually caught the eye of Brewer, who cast her in his 2007 film "Black Snake Moan" (she also had a roll as Rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson in the Johnny Cash biopic "Walk The Line"). But acting isn't her first love ... music is.
Which is why, despite her burgeoning film career, LaVere shifted her focus back to writing and recording. She didn't want to be known just as the pretty little actor/musician with the upright bass ... this was Memphis, after all. And cute doesn't cut it.
For more on LaVere, read on. Read more...
