It’s been over a month since the Hard Sell Tour ended where it began, and just about long enough to bring this article to a slow boil. 

 

Shadow and Cut have been working on the idea since San Fran before their joint efforts at the Hollywood bowl almost a year ago.  It took them a little more than six months more to put together the final production, as they launched the Hard Sell National Tour this past January.  And that’s just about long enough- almost eight years in the making- for these guys to work out all the kinks.  Or so you would think.

 

Without knowing this dynamic duo had been working toward this kick-off so long, one could chalk up the wobbly transitions and less than perfect cue-ups to first night jitters.  Let’s face it.  We’ve experienced the magic of Six Days under a cool spring sky at Stubb’s BBQ.  We were there to witness the Chemist in action back in the summer of ’06 at Waterloo Park.  And we expected nothing less that mid-January evening at La Zona Rosa.  It was the first official show of the Hard Sell Tour. 

 

But maybe- just maybe- it was too tough to follow the phenomenal performance of opening act, Kid Koala.

 

The crowd packed in tight.  We were flanked to the left by France (two Parisians in town for the week), and to the right by a couple of Austin hip-hop veterans from Liquid Stereo Project.  And directly behind, stood a guy who could have passed for a metal head with a secret sentiment for scratch.

 

Coincidence or just Kid Koala, I couldn’t tell at this point. I’d never seen him live before, and I’d only fallen in love with Skanky Panky some months before.  But every mix was laced with everything Austin: From the syrupy jazz of Drunk Trumpet to the hard riff blues in Slew Test 2.  If you haven’t heard it yet, and want to know how Austin feels without ever stepping foot inside the city, listen to that. 

 

“Well, you’ve just inspired me to hire a DJ.  So thank you.”

“Oh. Well. Good luck finding a DJ who can move and shake like thissssss…”

 

A perfect challenge to end forty minutes of desert before the main course. 

 

In between sets, I ran into a guy named Al who’d seen Kid Koala in New Orleans.  I shared my hunch, “I wonder if Kid Koala plans his sets around the cities he plays in.  Everything I’d just heard was everything I love to hear.  What do you make of it?”  Al told me he’d seen Koala once before in New Orleans, and confirmed my guess.  We speculated whether Skanky Panky and other Zydeco infused tracks originated from the Big Easy. 

 

I went back in to watch the Hard Sell intro.  Good stuff, I’ll admit.  Shadow threw out a quick disclaimer, stating some of the stuff we’d like and some of it…well, we wouldn’t.  Same retro instruction guide to 45s.  Still good stuff.  But it was all down hill from there.  I tried to get into it, but I just wasn’t feeling it, and my eyes (and thoughts) wandered. 

 

And there he was.  No.  It couldn’t be.  Kid Koala behind his own merch table selling oven mitts and post cards with the rest of his crew?  I walked over, half expecting him to brush me off.  But he didn’t!  He came around the table, and we chatted it up. 

 

After the regular intros and compliments and the stars in my eyes faded enough for me to focus, I asked him how he managed to hook up with the Hard Sell Tour.  “It was New Year’s Eve when I got the call…It totally made my night!” 

 

And what’s next?  With one finger out telling me to hold on, he ran back behind the table, and emerged with a set of postcards.  He pulled them out of the package, and showed me a series of stills of himself working on what looks like a clay-mation mosquito.  He explained a friend of his asked him to help out with a book about a clarinet playing mosquito.  He’s been working on it for a few years in between projects, but they are closer to the end now than the beginning. 

 

He spoke with animation and excitement, as he showed me the rest of the cards, and shared stories about his family.  And we talked a bit about the industry, and where it’s going.  The live shows and touring are where it’s at in his opinion.  A single file line had formed behind me during our conversation, and we looked back at the same time.  I told him it looked like he had a few other people to see. We took a couple of cheesy camera shots, he handed me the cards, and told me they were mine.  He said thanks so much for the support, and gave me a secret email address (I’m sure he gives that to everyone), if I ever needed to get in touch.

 

I do remember, when Kid Koala’s set was done, I looked back at that metal-head-gone-techno, and asked him what he thought.  He said, “Now that’s the mother fuckin’ hard sell.”

 

I have to agree.