Sesac Day Stage: to promote Boyd's book "White Bicycles"

(from IGN):
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SXSW 2007: Robyn Hitchcock Returns To The Sixties Eccentric popsmith takes a trip down memory lane with legendary producer Joe Boyd.
by Spence D.

US, March 15, 2007 - On Wednesday March 13th, as part of the opening day festivities of the 21st annual SXSW Music Conference, eccentric and idiosyncratic singer/songwriter Robyn Hitchcock teamed up with legendary producer Joe Boyd for a trip down memory lane.

Boyd, who recently published the musically inclined memoir White Bicycles: Making Music In The 1960s, would read bits and pieces from his book, adding in personal anecdotes and stories here and there. Then Hitchcock would comment on his experiences during the same time period and eventually do a cover of one of the songs Boyd had been
speaking about.

When I walked into the Sesac Day Stage, set up at the SXSW headquarters in the Austin Convention Center, Boyd was waxing poetic about working with The Incredible String Band on their second album, The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion. Hitchcock did a wonderfully droll acoustic version of "Chinese White" off the album.

Then Boyd and Hitchcock bantered about the legendary Pink Floyd during the Syd Barret era. Naturally this little trip through the ages resulted in the thematics of drugs and how they had influenced the musical styles, especially the recording and mixing process, of the day. This is where the nice repartee of Joe vs. Robyn really came into play as the former was pretty dry and straightforward, while the latter was his usually droll and whimsically aloof self.

For the Floyd portion Joe discussed working with Roger Waters in the studio and how much input he had on the final mix down of the track "Arnold Lane." Then of course Hitchcock whipped out a quaint acoustic version of the track.

For the end of their collaboration, Hitchcock and Boyd discussed the work of Nick Drake, focusing on Five Leaves Left and how Boyd recorded Drake standing in the middle of the studio surrounded by a full orchestra. When Boyd mentioned that the song, I believe it was "Thoughts of Mary Jane," was recorded live, Hitchcock blithely asked
"Did he have headphones on?" When Boyd replied "No," Hitchcock drolly said "Well, neither do I" and promptly launched into his version of the classic.

The Hitchcock and Boyd intersection was rounded out with Robyn doing a nicely poignant version of his own Nick Drake tribute song, "I Saw Nick Drake."

What was nice about this mini-show was the interaction and juxtaposition between Boyd and Hitchcock, one playing the role of historian, the other as balladeer interpreter. A truly unique and by golly, educational, sonic experience.