ATX Emerge/Art Disaster: Bi-annual Blowouts

Tonight and tomorrow night are double-headers, giant waves breaking one after another on the eve of SXSW Music.

They’ve got me more excited than any event happening during the official SXSW stretch. They are ATX Emerge, tonight at the Mohawk, and Art Disaster, tomorrow night at Beauty Bar.

Without hyping the exciting bands, I’ll speak as a documentary filmmaker. These events and the people behind them (including Emerge’s sister Fall event ATX Converge) were the petrie dishes for Echotone.

It was at ATX Converge that we first filmed Black Joe Lewis (the same month he and the Honeybears signed to Lost Highway/Universal Records). The Mohawk was quick to become the epicenter for the world of the story. Not only do our 3 central bands (Sunset, Black Joe, and Belaire) all play within the Mohawk’s walls on-camera, the Mohawk also directly plays into one of the downtown development stories in Echotone. The flats across the street have caused some interesting hurdles to spring up for the folks at the Mohawk.

SXSWers! Look up! Look at how much the city has changed since you were last eating our tacos! Also, don’t for a moment think that the weather is this pleasant year-round. The heat maelstrong is fast approaching. You’re in the sweet spot.

Lastly, the grassroots companies who organized the orginal Emerge 2 years ago (Reversal Films, Indierect Records, Swatch Post, Voodoo Highway) were all utterly instrumental in giving Echotone its legs.

Some of the brightest, most talented, most passionated (and many times the most preening) members of ATX’s film/music/fashion/design culture will be at Emerge tonight. And the music will blow you away.

Art Disaster, put on by Daniel Perlaky, is likewise a nonstop art orgy. The event is aptly titled and Mr. Perlaky seems to delight in the chaos of it all. DJs, MCs, psychadelia, screenprinting, poster show, a photo booth, and free booze. The makings of a beautiful mess of people coming together and sharing in the local energy.

Cutting the scenes together from what we shot of these events over the last 2 years already makes me a bit nostalgic. Not the syrupy kind. The kind that makes me want to go out and continue participating in this very inspiring time.

-Nathan