Bang to Hype

Nancy Newberry

That's "Dragonlady Yoko" to her friends: Courtney Love at the South by Southwest conference.

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• South by Southwest Festival
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At 3:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, Lord endured the shouts ("Jewel!" screamed some smart-ass filing out of an after-hours party nearby, where OK GO and the Promise Ring entertained the free-drink crowd) and picked up pocket change every night, selling her CDs and singing in that tiny baby voice of hers. Nearby, a bearded homeless man fought with an empty cigarette pack; winos huddled around and shushed the loud and inattentive. Lord even had a showcase forthcoming Saturday night, but she serenaded the chilly night and the curious and bored and stoned for hours and hours. Near the end of her never-ending set, she sang "Thunder Road," and in that setting, it sounded sad and brand-new -- like she'd written it on the spot, for anyone who cared to listen. She whispered of promised lands, of how people scream your name at night, about how she taught her guitar to talk, and about how she was gonna get out of this town full of losers. "I'm pulling out of here to win," she sang, and for that moment, you kinda believed her.