Five SXSW Acts I'm Sadly Going to Miss Today

Help me out, dear readers. Due to circumstances that are out of my control, I'll be heading back on a plane from Austin (not me) to Atlanta today in the early afternoon. Below are merely five acts I'm sad to miss. Please make it your job to go see them. There are many others, of course. Click here if you're having a tough time trying to decide how to spend your SXSaturday. But seriously, don't miss these:

Who: The Beets (not these Beets)
Where/When: Spider House @ 2 p.m.
Why: Saw these guys in a tiny loft space with bad sound in Atlanta a week ago. All three of them stood (including the drummer) facing each other and shouting along the lyrics. These dudes have that early-Black-Lips-lo-fi-swagger completely down. Sloppy and wonderful.

Who: New York Dolls
Where/When: Maggie Mae's @ 2:40 p.m.
Why: Because I'm not old enough to have seen them at CBGB's. Also:



Who: Abe Vigoda
Where/When: Waterloo Park @ 3:05 p.m.
Why: The recent Paste Band of the Week has been earning piles critical acclaim since last SXSW, but I'm still yet to catch what I'm told is a rather dazzling live show.

Who: Izza Kizza
Where/When: The Scoot Inn @ 5 p.m.
Why: He's talented, quotable and makes lots of videos. Taken out of context, that sentence makes him sound like a porn star! Also:


Who: The Thermals
Where/When: Waterloo Park @ 5:20 p.m.
Why: These guys (and gal) just keep churning out catchy, angry power-pop goodness. They've got a new one coming April 7, but in the meantime, listen to this hot jam from 2006: