SXSW 2010

This is just one post in my wrap up of the year 2010. If you would like to read the rest, click here to the main post.

I was really surprised when I asked some of the editors back in October 2009 who was going to take over the Life & Arts Editor position when the then-editor was leaving. They suggested me. I never thought I had editorial qualities in me but I ended up having more than most so I got hired as the Campus Editor starting in January 2010. I'll spare the long story about how I ended up with that position instead but that position ended up working for me in the end.

I had to learn pretty quickly how to plan and deal with reporters for each issue. And what I learned from that experience is that no matter how much coffee you drink or how much sleep you sacrifice, something is inevitably going to go wrong. A flakey writer forgetting deadline, a difficult writer submitting an article a day before deadline that require a long editing session, a photo that doesn't relate to the story, or a space that needs to be fill in the layout due to bad planning on my end. The possibilities are endless.

This year brought on more stress than anything I have ever done in my life, but I can honestly say I enjoyed it. The fact that I came back every week to put myself back in that situation tells me this is what I want to do. Whenever our adviser Matt would tell us the issue is done at the end of the night and to go home, I left with a worn smile on my face, ready to climb into bed, only to sleep in until 11 a.m. the next morning, and head to Rio Grande Campus to start planning for the next issue. Seeing the final product in newsstands and in people's hands around campus is what made it worth it.

While having an editor's position makes me miss being just a freelancer sometimes, I do enjoy the perks of being an editor. You get first dibs on the cool stories. No more news briefs or rehash of press releases for me! Sometimes the perks were forced on me, but I did get to cover some assignments that were outside my usual comfort level. And you know what, it was awesome.

In 2009, I got a SXSW wristband for Accent Newspaper and in 2010, I was rewarded with an actual badge (which got me on the cover of the newspaper). Sweet. Granted I didn't do as much as I would have liked, but if I get another badge this year, I'm taking full advantage.

Then for the first issue as Life & Arts Editor in the Fall 2010, I applied to cover Fantastic Fest for another writer, but I was rewarded the badge instead. Yay? Not at first. I didnt want to cover the festival, but I had no choice.

It was a fustrating learning experience because I didn't like the way the tickets were handled. How it works is that you have to show up when the Alamo Drafthouse opens the day of the movie to grab your tickets. The place usually opens at 10 a.m., but the seats are first come, first serve. So people were waiting in line as early as 7 or 8 in the morning every day. That's dedication. Unfortunately, I didn't have that dedication because of work and school so I missed out on a lot of movies because I didn't camp out at the Drafthouse.

But I did interview some cool people involved at the festival. The one interview that made me extremely nervous but was actually one of the highlights of my life (which also includes Ryan Reynolds making eye contact with me) was interviewing the cast and director of Hatchet 2. I saw the first Hatchet during one of my horror movie marathons and loved it. It's a hilarious throwback to those '80s slasher films so getting to interview the director was a treat. Kane Hodder plays the killer and also sat in the interview, and even though he is like 10 feet tall and could crush my skull with his weak hand, he was really nice.

Meeting Danielle Harris, though, was a dream come true. It's no secret that I love horror films and the Halloween series is my all-time favorite in horror films. So meeting Jamie Lloyd and Annie in the Rob Zombie remake was crazy. That only happened because of my job.

Of course, I got the fangirl comment out of the way before we started the interview and I think that helped set the mood of the interview. It was basically 20 minutes with the four of us geeking out on horror films and what it was like making Hatchet 2.

By the way, that movie is awesome. Definitely watch it if you're a big horror movie buff or you just like blood and guts thrown everywhere. There's plenty of it.

The same badge situation happened with the Austin Film Festival. I honestly didn't want to do the assignment because it was too time consuming, but I made do with what I could. I ended up seeing great films from independent filmmakers that ooze with potential and sat down with some of them for interviews.

One of my favorite parts of the film festival was sitting in some panels with big names in film like Robert Rodriguez. I learned a lot on story telling which is all very helpful in my career. Because that's what journalists do, we tell stories.

After covering these two film festivals, I realized that those were the break I needed from music and I learned that film publicists stick to their schedules. I got a call from one publicist 10 minutes before our scheduled interview to make sure I could still meet at the designated time we had set. That's impressive. That never happens in the music world. I'm happy if the band shows up.

When Fun Fun Fun Fest came around, I was starting to feel exhausted from covering a festival every weekend and I got sick more often than usual because my body was so worn out. So when I got the email during the Saturday of the festival that I was approved to cover the upcoming Comic Con, I was a little annoyed. I started ranting in the photo pit about how all I wanted to do was relax. I didn't want to cover another assignment.

But one of my reporter friends brought it to both our attention that we are at a great music festival for free, hanging out in the media area with the bands and fellow journalists, and taking photos in the photo pit, and yet we're bitching about how we have to cover Comic Con for free the next weekend with some great celebrities in attendance because we're tired. World first problems.

So I laughed and realized that should be grateful that this is my job, even though it meant I was giving up my social life and sleep and developing a major coffee addiction.

So all in all, I love working for a newspaper. Even though it's a student-run newspaper, it still feels like a professional newspaper (we do win awards after all) and gives me great practice for whenever I enter the "real world." I can't stress enough how important it is, especially if you're a journalism major, to get involved in your school paper.

I took a copy editing class in the Spring 2010 semester and I made an A because everything I needed to know to pass my tests was learned in the newsroom, not a textbook. Journalism isn't taught in the classroom. It's taught through actual experience.

Memorable stories I've did with Accent (in no order):

1. Free Speech Zones

This story gave me a crash course in public relations politics. Yuck.

2. Riverbat coverage

ACC got a mascot this year. I was on the skeptic side asking why on earth does this school need a mascot? We're already having a hard time being taking seriously as a community college. "Go to a real school." You don't know how many times I've heard that out of people's mouth. Joking or not, it's offensive.

But the mascot happened and I was one the lucky journalists to cover the last of the revealing process. I filmed the event when the actual mascot made his first appearance. After editing the video, I'm so sick of looking at anything in purple.

3. Aeropress

I got an email trying to convince me to review this simple coffee maker that is supposed to be great for students. I didn't have to hear more. They had me at "coffee." The company shipped a machine and I got to review it. Another perk of the job.

4. Comic Con

I covered the first Comic Con in Austin. I have to say, it was kind of depressing. ...at first. I got there early on Friday and the moment I walked in, all the celebrities were just sitting there looking bored behind their booth staring at their cell phones. Yikes.

But everyone was approachable and once you mentioned you were press, they let you take photos of them for free (they were charging for photos otherwise). I ended up meeting a lot of celebrities like Ernie Hudson! and that guy who plays Xander on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Actually when the actor Nicholas Brendon introduced himself as Nicky, I got really confused because I was honestly expecting him to introduce himself as Xander.

And when I mean I met these celebrities, I mean I geeked out on them.

5. Fun Fun Fun Fest

6. College Sound

As Life & Arts Editor, I wanted to feature musicians and bands that were also students at ACC. With the 44,000+ students enrolled, you would think it would be easy, right? Nope. That's disappointing. It's free press, people. I know what I'm doing as a journalist (or I like to think). If you're an ACC student and play music, contact me.

Anyway, I did fulfill in finding someone to interview for each issue. I'm relieved that I didn't cover the same type of band. Each College Sound article featured someone in different genres, and two of them aren't musicians but they so involved in the music somehow that it was hard to deny them.

The Steps
Ross DuBois
Avy Gonzalez
Rally Rally
Zoe Cordes Selbin
Pro-Gres

7. We Are The Lottery League

8. SPEAK

Before SoManyBands became the blog format it is now, I usually just posted unedited Q&A interviews and every now and then, a review of some sort. However, if blogging was the thing during 2003-2006, Good in the Sack would have been one of the bands (along with Air Tight Alibi, Natchet Taylor, and Firekills) that would have regularly been blogged about on my site.

Good in the Sack was a pop punk band from Austin (of course) that wrote silly hilarious songs to some pretty decent melodies. They weren't revolutionary by any means nor were they the best musicians to ever to walk on the face of the Earth, but the tunes were fun, relatable, and catchy. The guys always provided an entertaining show with their drunken antics on and off the stage.

My personal favorite song "I Need to Learn How to Fight" (which you can see a performance of the song at the bottom of this post) is about that first moment you see your latest ex with a new person and the anger and jealously you feel that makes you wish you knew how to fight so you can beat that new person up. Very therapeutic song for those geeky insecure types out there such as myself. Especially when you yell out "And I hate you!." However, it's played to pop punk music so it's makes you feel happy.

So it goes without saying that I was a huge fan of this band back in the day. I went to many of their shows at the Backroom, both Redrum locations, Red Eyed Fly, Flamingo Cantina and wherever else would book them. Hung out with the guys whenever I ran into them. I interviewed them twice for SoManyBands because let's face it, they always deliver hilarity every time. I really don't remember how this band's run ended. I don't even remember a farewell show. It just seemed like they fell off the radar one day.

So imagine my surprise when the drummer Jorge nonchalantly announced on Facebook that his bands, 3 and Good in the Sack, were playing during 2010 SXSW. Say what? I immediately replied to confirm that my eyes weren't playing tricks on me and that it was indeed Good in the Sack who was performing and sure enough, it was.

Oh dear god.

I immediately texted Marlee who tagged along with me to many of these shows during those days and we were both in excitement. Man, it has been too long. Four years to be exact. I immediately added the show to my SXSW schedule not caring if anyone else of importance was playing or an interview needed to happen. I didn't care. It's Good in the Sack.

Of course, I messaged Jorge and told him that an interview needed to happen. It has been too damn long and this caused for a celebration. Of course, they were in.

The show itself was at a small bar on 6th Street called Aquarium. Not usually a venue, the stage was super small and the bar layout was awkward for any crowd larger than 20 people to see a live show. But people showed up and they showed up in droves. I got there early so I could get a good spot. Smart move as not only was I in the very front, the place got super packed super quickly. Guess I wasn't the only one that missed this band.

There were a ton of familiar faces from those days. Members from the Riddlin Kids, Born to Lose and Rubberhed showed up as well as some of the other members from the bands I mentioned earlier in this post. It seemed that everyone looked the same for the most part except we all looked a little bit older and a little bit heavier. The original line up (well the only line up) was on stage to perform all the hits except for the guitarist Dipto, but one of Jorge's bandmates filled in and did a pretty great job. However, Dipto still showed up to watch the show. He told me afterwards that there was no ill will between the guys. He just couldn't commit to the practice that was require in preparation for the show.

After the guys took me down memory lane, we went to the back of the bar to do our interview, mainly to catch up on the past four years. What exactly were they doing when the band was dunzo and why didn't Dipto perform? And most importantly, do we sense a comeback? Of course, in true fashion, this interview was just like it always is in a Good in the Sack interview, I held the camera and the guys just chatted away until I told them to stop.

Sean: I'm Sean. I play bass and I sing. This is Jorge.

Jorge: Hi.

Sean: Jorge plays drums and he doesn't sing. We actually don't allow him to sing because he should never sing. So we are Good in the Sack. We are a crappy punk rock band that made our return for SXSW 2010.

Jorge: We're a semi-crappy punk rock band. Semi.

Sean: Hey, I'm not even sure if we can say we're punk rock anymore. So I really don't know what we are now.

Jorge: I think we're progressive metal.

Sean: See. The way that we've always said is we are across between Color Me Badd and Slayer. So somewhere in between there, that's Good in the Sack.

How long as it been? Four years right?

Sean: It's been four years since we played.

What have you been doing in the past four years?

Sean: Drinking a lot. You can kinda tell.

Jorge: Yeah, drinking a lot and fucking around.

Sean: A little. See, the thing with being in the band is like you end up learning how to drink really, really well and then you make that a profession after awhile and you put down your guitar, stop playing and that's kind of what happens. So the thing that got us back to do this is we've been talking for a long time. We missed it so we wanted to play again and we really didn't know when we were going to do the reunion show. We were always talking about it. "Oh we'll do a reunion show. We'll do it later." All this stuff. So we were drinking here at Aquarium when Amir the owner's like "Hey, you're playing during SXSW." And we're like "All right, that's it." That's what made us play was being drunk at Aquarium having Amir telling us we're going to play.

Jorge: Yeah, nothing like being smashed in the corner of the old hangout spot having your buddy go"Hey, you guys want to play in my bar during SXSW?" "Sure." Shots. Shots.

Sean: The thing that was awesome though that when we decided that we wanted to play, we just got it together and decided to do it. What was awesome was that everybody came out to see us. Everybody actually, all of our friends came out, our drinking buddies were here to booze it up with us and that was awesome.

And how long did it take for you to prepare for this show? To relearn everything?

Sean: Four practices.

Jorge: One acoustic practice. One plug, two plugged in practices. Three.

Sean: Three practices?

Both: Three practices.

Sean: Yep. The thing was like once you plug in again, I was kind of worried. I thought it'd be real rough but we played for so long and we've done these songs for so long and it just comes back to you right away. You remembered it all.

Jorge: Yeah. I know I look like a god damn pilot right now.

*both laugh*

Sean: dun-dun-dun-daaa! And that was us. I mean you gotta remember like how it was back in the day. We were always jackasses and that never stops. Our band never depended on sounding really good per say as just drinking a lot and playing really loud so that never goes out of fashion.

How did it feel the first time you started playing together?

Sean: Um, great. The first practices were awesome. I was surprised actually how well it all came together and then it was just...

Jorge: ...amazing.

Sean: ...all there.

Jorge: Unfortunately, Dipto could not play because he was studying for his GMAT which is understandable. So we got my buddy Isaac, one of my good friends, that I moved up with here in '99 and actually play in a band with. We got him to fill in and he learned everything like that. So that made it even better.

Sean: It was amazing. One of the things that was great was getting back on stage today and seeing everybody there and all of our old school buddies there. It just felt like family reunion so that's one of those things.

Yeah, it was awesome.

Sean: And it felt awesome to have everybody there. Playing the songs. It felt good.

Well you kind of did it like nonchalant on Facebook like "Thanks to some guy for booking this band and Good in the Sack for SXSW" and I'm like "Whoa whoa wait."

Sean: Yeah, well we didn't know. It's been fours years. We don't know if people care anymore or want to hear this. They want to hear our music in general. So really walked into it really tentatively and just after awhile once we announced it, then we saw the ball started rolling. People like "hey, dude uh we're coming. We're coming." So then everybody liked it and the fact that they all showed up was pretty badass.

Jorge: Definitely.

Sean: So I was pretty happy about that. Old school good times. So that was good. I mean the fact that we got to do that, it felt like everybody was with us through it.

Jorge: It was a barrage of old bands. Old people that we've always been playing together in shows. Different bands and stuff.

Sean: Yeah, we got our boys here. We've got Rubberhed. We've got Riddlin Kids here.

Born to Lose.

Sean: Born to Lose. Just looking across that you see all your friends here and that was awesome.

It was like being in the Backroom in 2004 all over again.

Sean: Seriously. It was like time travel.

Jorge: But it's Aquarium. It's the fish bowl.

Sean: Aaron even said that. He's like something like memory, you think of taste or smell or things like that. He's like "No, this is memory," when he was looking around and so that's the thing. I mean everybody says that but getting everybody together again, it was like us with everybody. I think everybody was in it, you know. Like dude, we're back. It's like 2002.

Jorge: And we had been planning a reunion show for awhile. We just didn't know where to do it and it was kind of like here and there cause we all work now a lot. Then we got the offer to do SXSW. It's like ok. What better place to do a reunion but then the fucking music festival as well.

Sean: Nothing better. Nothing better. So what are we going to do from here, we'll see but that was awesome. That was awesome.

You'd think they'll be more reunion shows in the future?

Sean: (looks at Jorge) Any more reunion shows in the future?

Jorge: Yeah.

Sean: I think we like it. I think it was fun. I think we got to do that again.

Jorge: There was a Ghostbusters 1. There was a Ghostbusters 2. They're making a Ghostbusters 3.

Sean: Boom. Hey we're back. We couldn't go away for long. We're such jackasses.

Jorge: You know that's not gonna end because that shit just keeps on happening.

Sean: Hey so you can buy us on iTunes now. We started playing again. I think we got a second wind. I think we're back. I'm calling it now. We're back. I'm calling my shot. Boom.

Jorge: I know Thomas is definitely planning on trying to get us playing around everywhere.

Sean: Yeah, so look for us.

Do you think Dipto will be apart of that too?

Both: We'll see.

Sean: We'll see what he's doing. He's got a lot of work to do. Trying to get into grad schools so you know, if he does, we got the four back together. If not, then we got one got stuff going.

Jorge: It's completely respected. Completely respected. Everything he's doing, awesome.

Sean: I don't know if you know this but Isaac freaking killed it on guitar.

He was really good.

Sean: He was going meanly solos on the top and on the bottom. I was like "Wow."

Jorge: Yeah the shit.

Sean: I was like "That's how it should be." Rocking out.

Jorge: Isaac is the shit. That guy makes his own guitars too.

Sean: Yeah, he's pretty badass.

All right. Any last words?

Sean: Hey Good in the Sack. We're back.

Jorge: Yes.

Oh, last time I interviewed you, we did a true or false question. So true or false: are you still good in the sack?

Sean: Absolutely. Better.

Jorge: Yes. (laughs) Yes.

Sean: That was awesome.

Good in the Sack from Sarah Vasquez on Vimeo.

Just like the headline says, my photos from SXSW are finally edited and posted on Accent's Flickr. I didn't take nearly as many photos as I did last year. But I'm getting a new camera! So expect more photos in the future.

Click here to see the entire collection at Flickr.

This band is adorable. Dipping into the 50s and 60s pop music, they really work the whole package by dressing sharp in their button down shirts and slicked up hairstyles. Watching this Sheffield band perform is really like witnessing a blast from the past.

SXSW 2010 interview with The Crookes from Sarah Vasquez on Vimeo.

Originally posted at Accent.

Austin's International Waters is one of those bands that doesn't get much attention around town so people don't really know much about this indie pop band. I'm here to change that. Meet International Waters.

SXSW 2010 interview with International Waters from Sarah Vasquez on Vimeo.

Originally posted at Accent.

News briefs for Accent Issues #3 and #4:

Accent, Life4u, Rio Review bring home publication awards
Bob Livingston brings musical diversity to ACC with free show
Automotive Technology Dept. set to open in San Marcos
Texas law officials to round up those with warrants on March 6
SGA Candidates preparing for election campaigns
New female focused classes to be offered in solar installation

Here are the blurbs I wrote for the new calendar we added to my section.
Calendar of Events for Issue 3
Calendar of Events for Issue 4

During TIPA, we learned that ACC has free speech zones so I decided it would be a cool info graph to put in my section. Cool info graph, yes. (Thanks Chris and Hanlly.) Easy info to get, not really.
All campuses now offer Free Speech Zones

Last but not least, here's a SXSW interview I did with comedian Rob Delaney.
Rob Delaney Interview: SXSW 2010

Here are some articles/blog posts I've read recently that I think are worth sharing:

I find this interesting: all Rivers Cuomo had to do was change the basic content of his lyrics, and suddenly Weezer transitioned from making songs that Converse-wearing kids wanted to quote in their Livejournals, to making songs that you’d hear blasting in the background of the trailer for American Pie VI: Wet Hot American Teenage Free-for-All featuring Campus Girls Gone Wild.
“On Whom Can You Depend?”

South By Southwest has become a popular spring-break destination, Mardi Gras for collegiate hipsters.
Letter From Austin | SXSW Standouts

He will escape from whatever “corner” you’ve got him in, he will find you, and he will kill you in some horrific and punning fashion – like dropping you into a pool of liquid nitrogen as he tells you to “Chill out.”
Writer gives tips for surviving Schwarzenegger

It’s the cinematic equivalent of a Hummer with both “Support our Troops” and “No Fat Chicks” bumper stickers on it.
Unlikable actors take all the love out of Paris

20 Watt Shed was our name and we were probably about as good as our name would suggest. Anyway, we were young, we were loud, we were in a band, and we had a demo tape.
I'm still totally fine with playing shows for Church youth groups.

Just outside Shangri-La, I heard a big funky bass. Accompanied by the sung words, "I JUST WANNA HAVE SEX WITH YOU." I thought: "I will check this out."
SXSW 2010 recap: Meet Casxio, our favorite musical discovery.

Finally, here is the list of winners my newspaper, Accent, won at TIPA. Yay team!
Online Video, Third Place - Sarah Vasquez <-- That's me! Here is the video that won.
TIPA 2010 Awards

Turns out I was one of this band's first interviews. So I decided to keep it basic to give people an introduction to what is now one of my new favorite bands. Their album "Honest Lines" is really good, ya. Four tracks of southern folksy twang with a rock edge and these guys are from the North. Get it.

SXSW 2010 Interview with At Any Speed from Sarah Vasquez on Vimeo.

Originally posted at Accent.

Since this is an Austin-based publication, there really isn't much to be said about Austin punk rock band, Riverboat Gamblers.

But what needs to be said about this interview is this: I was exhausted. Lead singer Mike Wiebe was exhausted. How this interview made any sort of sense is a mystery to me but we did manage to talk about some band business.

I was nervous about this interview because this band has done a lot of press in the past so I didn't know what to expect and I also didn't want to come off with the same generic band questions. But I'm really glad with how this interview came out. Yay.

SXSW 2010 Interview with Riverboat Gamblers from Sarah Vasquez on Vimeo.

Originally posted at Accent.

So how did the Accent team put together our cover and double truck for SXSW shown in this post? Watch the video below.

The making of Accent's SXSW pre-coverage layout for Issue #3 from Sarah Vasquez on Vimeo.

I'm competing in a video contest so I used this as a chance to get some practice before the journalism conference after SXSW. I filmed most of the clips except for the ones I'm in, of course. The video was shot on my Flip Mino and edited myself in iMovie.

Thanks again to the bands that gave me permission to include their songs:
Love at 20
Quiet Company
SPEAK