SX - Lines, Pull, and (Missing) Beirut Live

I missed the Beirut performance on Wednesday. I knew I wouldn't have been able to get in so I didn't even try. S tried and seeing the line of platinum badges cooling their heels outside, knew he wouldn't have made it in either.

What teeny-tiny little pull I have around town vanishes entirely when SX rolls through. None of the bars in which I am a "vip" host SX shows. (Heck, even those places often forget what I actually do for a living. I only have pull there because I know the bartenders/owners/staff and I tip generously. Every once in a while, I mention it after they've seen me with tattooed men with interesting facial hair or young guys with long floppy bangs. Since they all know A, it's always good to say, "hey those cute young guys I was here with last night . . . that was work.")

Years and years ago, I dated a lobbyist, which basically meant he was a professional barfly who dropped massive amounts of cash all over town. He had also been a professional athlete who played here in college, so he was denied access nowhere, nor was I. My father and his friends flew in for sxsw that year and we, without badges, were granted access into every venue we wanted without waiting. To the unabashed delight of my father's friends, Clifford Antone himself escorted us into Antone's for a show.

Sigh.

Pull rocks. Absence of pull . . . keeps me at home rather than face the daunting, madding crowds.

Below are two live mp3s from a Beirut show last August. You can download the whole thing at the Live Music Archives. There is also a show from October.

Mp3: Beirut, Postcards from Italy (live).
Mp3: Beirut, Elephant Gun (live).

Buy Gulag Orkestar and Lon Gisland on Amazon and then get Pompeii, the two song EP exclusively from eMusic.