“Say ’hi' to Neil for us!” is what I heard Thursday morning as I was on my way out the door to see Neil Young speak as the Keynote speaker at South By Southwest 2006. I have been listening to Neil Young all my life and my parents have been listening to him for even longer. There I am, 50 feet from the folk legend and I stop and think how amazing this opportunity has been.
Neil Young was accompanied by Jonathan Demme, the director of the musical portrait of Young, Neil Young: Heart of Gold. This film was shown at SXSW. They talked and joked about his music past and present. Throughout the conversation the audience got the feeling that Neil wanted to move forward musically. He emphasized that he is not interested in living in the past. Apparently, he is not a “greatest hits” kind of guy; so if you are planning on seeing him live, don’t expect to hear “After the Gold Rush” or songs from his Crazy Horse days, but do look forward to his new album, Prairie Wind. I may not have seen Neil Young perform, but hearing him talk for an hour was enough to make my SXSW trip complete and my parents extremely jealous.
Goodbye Gingerbread
Saturday morning, after scouring the poster show in the Austin Convention Center we headed over to Lovejoy’s for the Gingerbread Patriots last show at SXSW. We were approaching the end of our journey and as the soft, catchy music rose out of the somewhat disgusting bar, a relaxing mood was set for the rest of the day.
When they finished their set we went and talked with John Brophy (lead singer), apparently they had been having as much fun as we had. We also received some sad but “good for them” news. The band is moving to Portland to give it a go at the big time, minus drummer Nathan; who happens to be the front man of The Oktober People, another great Albuquerque band. You have three more shows to see the Gingerbread Patriots perform before moving, so get on it, and wish them luck in their new endeavor.
