Recovering from my SXSW Hangover

I have recovered from my week long hangover from attending South By Southwest in Austin, Texas.  I represented KPFA in my position as Music Director but what got me there was my coverage as a radio journalist and a life long passion for music.  I was ill throughout my entire trip to SXSW but I did manage to interview some key figures in World, Electronica and Latin Alternative music: Simon Mejia, the brain child of Colombia’s electro cumbia gods “Bomba Estereo”, Jairo “Muchachito” and Simon from Spain’s rumba catalana fusion giants “Muchachito Bombo Infierno” and the fiery Nigerian songstress Nneka whose latest cd “Soul Is Heavy” is pulsating with hip-hop, reggae, funk and African grooves.  I was one of the lucky few who got picked from a special lottery to attend Bruce Springsteen’s exclusive intimate concert in Austin…what an awesome show!  A two hour, forty minute set with The Boss and his mighty E-Street Band now augmented with a 5 piece horn section (including the late Clarence Clemons nephew on tenor sax) and 2 background vocalists.  Bruce was mighty impressive as he rocked the hell of the Moody Theater, home of tv’s Austin City Limits.  Reggae legend Jimmy Cliff, Eric Burdon, Tom Morello, Joe Ely, Alejandro Escovedo and The Arcade Fire joined The Boss on stage!  There is so much happening at SXSW that you are actually missing 10 cool things for the one act that you choose to see.  It’s an endurance test to see a third of what you wanted to see in the first place.  More to come later.