Fist Pumping to Lyrics Born and Joyo Velarde at SXSW

South by Southwest is one of the most prominent indie music extravaganza in the nation – maybe even the world. Actually, Austin is considered “The Live Music Capital of the World” so the latter is probably more accurate.

Having lived there before, I do miss the easy access to live music, so going back to delve into SXSW was quite exciting – but it’s like a bombardment of live music. It’s overwhelming – stressful even.

Nonetheless, one night after an evening of listening to Talib Kweli, Estelle, and watching rhythmless drunken girls dance on a bar that reeked of vomit, we ended the night at Spill, a bar on the celebrated street of college co-ed debauchery called 6th Street.

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Lyrics Born and Joyo Velarde at SXSW. Please forgive the badly taken pictures

I was starting to lose steam realizing that I was not 21 years old anymore, but then I heard some music that gave me a little bounce. The last act of the evening in Spill was Lyrics Born and Joyo Velarde, two Asian American hip-hop and soul artists from the Bay Area.

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Now that I claim the San Francisco Bay Area I was pumping my fist in the air in a non-douchelike manner and jammin’ out with the crowd – and it was the first time I heard of them. I wondered why it took me so damn long to even hear of this group. I felt so unhip and a disgrace to my Asian American brethren.

I really need to brush up on my Fil-Am and Asian pop. I used to be such a groupie when it came to that stuff. I think it’s time to reincarnate my dormant groupie.

About Dino-Ray

Dino-Ray Ramos is a movie hobbit, social media swaggerist, pop culture junkie, smart-mouthed Asian American warrior, and a well-rounded inhaler of all things entertainment. After uprooting from Texas, he migrated to San Francisco where he shares his irreverent take on high and low brow aspects of culture. In addition to feeding TheFinerDandy.com he writes for AfterElton.com, Hyphen Magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle. You can also boost his self-esteem by following his musings on Twitter
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