SATURDAY, MARCH 17
12:10pm: A sheriff's department employee moonlighting as a cabbie tells me he's happy not to be at his regular job during SXSW, because arrestees in the music biz all think they're really important and deserve special treatment in the pokey. Self-important assholes? In the music industry? Say it ain't so.
2:22pm: The Pipettes are more enjoyable close-up. They have different matching dresses today, and their backing band wears matching sweater-vests. Plus seven points.
3:06pm: My jury's still out on their album, but it was cool to see The Good, The Bad & The Queen play a huge-ass day party, if only to see Paul Simonon in person. The former Clash bassist doesn't look like he's aged a day. Singer Damon Albarn looked natty in a top hat, too. Daylight doesn't suit their dub–smoke and darkness would've been better.
3:59pm: Young Milwaukee rapper Juiceboxxx is a shirtless whirlwind. He shouts through electro "thunder jams," while jumping around in the audience (which numbers in the teens). He scoots a disinterested patron off a barstool so he can use it to climb, then eventually collapses, exhausted, on the dirty club floor. This moment is more rock 'n' roll than any other I've seen here.
8:02pm: Comedic trio Human Giant—Aziz Ansari, Paul Scheer, and Rob Huebel–present some video shorts from their upcoming MTV show and deliver some funny stand-up, too. They're joined by Eugene Mirman and Jon Glaser, who pretends to be a really annoying comic who tells stories about his dreams. Many people don't understand that it's a joke.
10:21pm: Tim and Eric (of timanderic.com and the truly funny Adult Swim show Tim And Eric Awesome Show Great Job) follow the Human Giant guys' format by showing some great videos and doing some incredibly strange costume bits. Watch their show. Do it.
12:01am: In a moment of perfectly circular poetic wonder, I decide to end my SX07 experience the way I began it, with Midlake. They have to keep the setlist short, but they're terrific with a big sound system at the Bella Union Records showcase. They end with "Head Home," which I do. Out on Sixth Street, the St. Patrick's Day hordes are in full swing, bands are still raging, and MySpace is giving away hot dogs. It's exhausting and exhiliarating, the whole damn thing.