Golem’s second time at SXSW was exciting, and the usual mix of “this is so amazing!” and “get me out of here!” After two great shows in San Francisco and Los Angeles, we arrived in Austin and played the JDub showcase, the really fun Birthright party, and an insane Austin party called “Gadjo Disko” where we saw that “Keep Austin Weird” is still upheld by a lot of people. I knew it would be a blast when I walked into “The Cockpit” and the DJ was playing a track by our friends, Amsterdam Klezmer Band singer Alec Kopyt and Russen Disko’s Yuriy Gurzhiy. We were preceded by a “transsexual hip-hop gypsy marching band” (they seemed more like a mostly gay, awesomely costumed marching band) which was amazing. By the time we played, the crowd was very sweaty and half-naked. My keytar decided to die at this final performance, but the show went on and no one seemed to notice.
It was also quite an experience being at SXSW while 7 months pregnant. I got a lot of congrats on the street, including one from a pedi-cab driver who yelled “My girlfriend’s taking the test tonight!!!” as he drove by, and high-fived my husband Sasha. The story I’ll be telling the baby forever, though, is how I got into the unannounced Metallica show…