MAM Family Sightings at SXSW 2016
Way to represent at SXSW this year, MAM Family!
Yessian literally kicked off the biggest SX yet (#thanksobama) with its SXKO Party at The Belmont, co-hosting with fellow production houses Synthetic, Apache, Ntropic, and Beast. Complete with the requisite line out the door, SXKO has quickly become a top mixer for ad folks diving into the early Interactive and Film happenings at SXSW.
New Orleans's finest -- Lyrics Born -- headlined a stellar lineup for a great night under the Texas stars.
We drank. We ate tacos. We drank some more (cheers, Deep Eddy!). We danced. We made fun of the suits (briefly) blocking the stage. It was a perfect intro to the Austin scene.
Innovations and films indeed abounded, including the world premiere of "The Alchemist Cookbook", directed by Joel Potrykus and starring Ty Hickson. MAM's Sorceress/PR maven, Ella Swift, produced the feature last year.
Nan Wilson joined Ella on the red carpet for the premiere (and after party, and no, Nan can not take a straight photo). By the end of the week, the film had enjoyed three sold-out screenings! [Ella also worked on the Hank Williams Sr. biopic "I Saw the Light", currently in theaters.]
Marmoset was in the neighborhood Sunday, as well, hosting its panel, "What the F*ck is Music Supervision?"
"We broke down the nuanced relationship between music and picture, and spoke about how to navigate the two together," said Marmoset's speakers -- Ryan Wines and Kat Olsen -- via their blog. They also offered a great debriefing on what they learned by hosting their first SXSW panel.
RPA surprised crowds with their adorable GIMI-5 robot, who was powered by likes and the love of high-fives. As in, that was pretty much his whole mission: giving out high fives to SXSW attendees. Needless to say, he was a 'hit'. [he he]
Cruising into midweek, the PROs began to open their SX stages to the best and brightest on their rosters.
SESAC / Harry Fox / Rumblefish hosted a rockin' stage of righteous babes at The Side Bar, including Taco Cat and Downtown Boys.
Over at Stubb's, BMI kicked off their festivities with a "Howdy Texas" BBQ and Peterson Brothers Band.
Highlight of the night: Dale Watson singing 'My Baby Makes Me Gravy' while a few of us let the free booze kick in for some dosey-doe two-steppin' sidewinder whirlygigs [lightly-buzzed recollection of a two-stepping rookie].
In our SX rambles, we were tickled to bump into COPILOT's Jason Menkes, not once but twice! Definitely a sign Austin was hopping with quality MAM Fam.
Jason's fellow COPILOT / partner in crime, Ravi "Marr" Krishnaswami, headlined The Bowery Ballroom with his project The Sons & Heirs -- a tribute to The Smiths and Morrissey. Their SXSW performance celebrated the 30th anniversary of The Smith's iconic album 'The Queen Is Dead' ("...there is a light and it never goes out...").
North Star Media had a fun lineup of its signed artists at SXSW, as well as having their artist The GO's track "Summer's Gonna Be My Girl" featured in the documentary "Orange Sunshine".
NPR's radar picked up Comma's music panel on "Inside Out--How Did That Song Get in That Commerical?" [Missed the panel? Full audio available on SoundCloud.]
In NPR's interview with Bonny Dolan, panel moderator and Marketing Director of Comma, she shared that "selling out" your music for advertising doesn't quite sting for artists like it used to:
"Some of them still feel like they're selling out," Dolan said to NPR. "It used to be nobody would do it — 'I'm selling out.' But that was when radio was big, and there were albums and there were CDs. Now you get one song.
"The whole music world is different. We have to change with the times, and these are the times.”
Were you at SXSW 2016 soaking up inspiration for the year ahead? Did you get a high five from GIMI-5? What/who were your fave finds, ideas, sounds, bands, films?