Music & Film Sat Mar 17 2007

SXSW Tour Diary - Office's Day Three

By Craig Bonnell

Here's another entry from Office. It seems as though the chaos, sleeplessness and partying are starting to get to them. Hopefully they'll make it back to Chicago in one piece.

"Sleeping here is almost impossible. Between nerves, adrenaline and alcohol, it's almost impossible to get a good night's sleep. I woke up early yesterday for more lousy breakfast and decent coffee and checked the listings for shows, still reeking of the chlorine of the hot tub from the night before.

Last year I had a full itinerary of shows and parties that I wanted to go to, but this year I and the band have taken the drifter's approach. We readied ourselves for our evening show leisurely, watching basketball and applying mascara. The breakfast sat in our stomachs like lead. The weather isn't as good as was advertised last week, but hey–beats Chicago, right?

The traffic in the downtown area was bloody murder, and it took us a half an hour to get down 4th on our way to the Fader/Levi's Fort. But by the grace of a cute, young Japanese couple, we found parking directly in front of the space. Subs were ingested as our eyes were covered in shades.

Badly Drawn Boy was lilting through an acoustic set as we arrived. The Fort is a huge labrinthine party space. It's probably the best party down here and it goes all day every day. That's a lot of SoCo and lime. The stage manager was hilarious and incredibly with it. Everything was highly organized and coordinated, which can be somewhat of a rarity in these situations. Another (forgettable) band played before us as we goofed around in the backstage tent, taking photos and cracking our usual crude jokes. The sun cracked through the crowds as we took the stage and looked out to a full, expansive outdoor patio. The floating saddle on my guitar popped out from under my strings during the third song, but somehow I managed to repair it on the fly.

A giant Meatwad balloon was inflated on top of the building as we played. Amy Winehouse paid us some nice compliments as we came off stage and then proceeded to belt out a sweet set of her own. Some Chicago b-boys were breakin' in the back during the djs, and it turned into Alissa and I jumping along with them chanting "Chi-town" and "Office in the house" in front of myriad video cameras. One for the grandkids!

[mp3]: Rehab (Hot Chip remix) - Amy Winehouse

Our pals in the 1900s arrived at the Fort and our mutual admiration society continued full throttle. There is a Chicago writer tagging along with both of our bands for a piece for Newcity, and I think we've given him a lot of material to work with. The poor dude almost cracked his skull falling off a couch as he tried to take a group photo.

The 00's and Office then split paths, and we headed out to dinner to celebrate the celebrations. We were a little outclassed at the Starlite, but the food and drink there was phenomenal. Better then BestWurst, believe it or not! We hit up the Flameshovel showcase afterwards to hear the Narrator. I like that band more and more each time I see them. Some of us broke off to see Peaches, but the Parish was packed to capacity, and I had to skip out after skipping the line. We revisted the site of our showcase last year, the Dirty Dog Bar for Sloan but couldn't hang for long and tried to go home.

[mp3]: Surfjew - The Narrator
[mp3]: Who Taught You To Live Like That - Sloan

Some Irish lads came running down the street screaming "Office!" and ended up whisking me away to stumble the streets for a while. When it was all said and done I had missed Hot Tub Party part deux and called my girlfriend at five in the morning. Four and a half hours of sleep later, and it's time to go play on the radio…