Wednesday at South by Southwest, for all
intents and purposes, was all about the D.
After a late start to the morning, some
brunch at a food-truck gathering, and a refresher nap at the convention center,
it was time to cross off my bucket list a band I’ve been waiting what seems
like eons to see: the mighty Tenacious
D.
Of course, the D’s set overlapped with a
slew of other bands I’m hoping to hit later at the festival, and that’s the
toss up when it comes to giant festivals like SXSW; it means I missed a slew of
bands I’m going to try to hit later this week. But I mean, come on. I can’t say
no to Tenacious D.
Jack Black and co-pilot
for the D, Kyle Gass, were in town to help promote
the upcoming Yahoo! Web comedy series “Ghost Ghirls,”
which Black executive produced. The screening party showed off two episodes of
the series, which stars Amanda Lund and Maria Blasucci
as naive, yet quirky, ghost hunters who are called upon to solve various
supernatural crimes and investigate paranormal activity. I’ve often wondered why,
with the slew of crime procedurals TV pushes out, we’ve never really seen a
crime comedy series (think of what “Scrubs” did to the medical
drama), and “Ghost Ghirls” has some solid
laughs (and a star-studded cameo list: Molly Shannon, Jason Schwartzman, Dave Grohl, and Black himself). The series will be released
online through Yahoo! Screen later this summer.
After a brief discussion panel on the series with Black,
Lund, Blasucci, and director Jeremy Konner (of “Drunk History” fame), the stage cleared for the
dynamic duo itself. I can’t pinpoint exactly when my young mind was warped and
I started listening to Tenacious D, but I know that I have my older cousin to
thank for passing me to the ways of the lewd and crude greatest satirical band
of all time. For years I have been looking forward to finally getting a chance
to see the magic live. Black and Gass have also been
out touring again just as a duo (sans a full backing band), but that’s always
how I felt would be best to experience the D.
Disappointingly, Black seemed tired and worn out — he
even mentioned as much — as soon as the set started, and it took awhile for
him to warm up and really fall into the Jables state
of mind. That’s saying a lot, given his normally large and over-the-top
persona. He’s an amazing vocalist (and Gass is one
hell of a guitar player), but Black seemed to shy away from holding some of the
longer and more impressive note runs until later in the set. Given the whole
just-the-two-of-them vibe, the first half of the set felt a little more subdued,
and the music was at a slower clip than I would have expected. The D still puts
on a mighty show, and classics like “Tribute,” “Double
Team,” and “FHG,” which finished off the night, were still
amazing. But I felt that the show probably wasn’t as full of all the rock juice
that the duo normally secretes.
I rallied to catch San Antonio, Texas-based
group Piñata Protest, which I had
missed earlier in the afternoon, and was glad I managed to see the band. The
accordion may not be the sexiest instrument, but this squeezebox-fronted punk
band sure makes a case for the instrument. Loud and fast guitar, drums, and
bass filled out the sound underneath the reedy accordion, and at the end of the
day there just aren’t that many punk bands with accordions in them. Piñata
Protest is really on to something here.
Even if some of its set was in Spanish and
I couldn’t understand it (and my high school Spanish teacher may hang her head
in shame), the musical energy and enthusiasm was universal. Cowboy
boots, a cowboy hat, and some rocking Tex-Mex Spanish punk tunes?Doesn’t get much more Texan than that, even if the group couldn’t
resist throwing “La Cucaracha” in at least once.
This article appears in Mar 13-19, 2013.
