AUSTIN, Texas -- Last year, after Bruce Springsteen gave a South By Southwest keynote speech for the ages, I remember pitying whoever had the unenviable task of following that. But it turned out I needn't have worried. For 2013, the SXSW braintrust put the keynote into the capable hands of Dave Grohl.

The Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters main man is a decent songwriter, an incredible drummer and by most accounts a thoroughly decent chap. And like Springsteen, he's also a music fan who has never forgotten what it's like to be outside looking in -- and to want something so bad it drives you almost insane. Grohl got the brass ring with Nirvana, and it is to his immense credit that he understands and appreciates just what a charmed career he has had.

After some preliminary music by Black Violin (a pretty amazing young group combining jumped-up rock and flowing beats with violin and cello -- wow), Grohl ambled out to greet the crowd, donning reading glasses as he fretted that he hoped he "still looked like a rock star." That set the tone for an entertaining and self-effacing spiel in which Grohl traced his career from his early Road-to-Damascus experience via the 1973 Edgar Winter instrumental hit "Frankenstein" -- which Grohl performed a capella, Bobby McFerrin-style, quite capably. He also told some tales about his old punk-rock days, evoking the joy of the do-it-yourself life: "There was no right and there was no wrong because it was all mine."

That was an inspiring thought to carry outside into the beautiful Austin sunshine. Thursday was the kind of bucolic spring day that suckers people into moving here, which they regret once the scorching heat of August kicks in. But Thursday was perfect weather for finding a good spot to sit outdoors and listen to music.

Emphasis there on "sit," as in don't move around unless you have to. South By Southwest has become almost unmanageably huge nowadays, drawing throngs of people numbering in the tens of thousands, many of them credential-less kids on spring break. It's just about impossible to scurry around and see everything you'd want to -- or anything at all, sometimes. Pretty much the entire city was gridlocked Wednesday night, and I had a frustrating evening in which I spent a lot more time standing in lines that weren't moving than actually seeing bands.

Thursday had to be better, and it was. Following Grohl's keynote, I staked out a comfortable outdoor spot at the Threadgill's beer garden and took in some old favorites including John Hiatt, a cat who has truly turned into the cool old blues troubadour he always wanted to be; Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale, two fine journeyman enjoying late-career surges (among Miller's recent production credits is the Grammy-nominated "Leaving Eden" by Triangle stringband Carolina Chocolate Drops); and Richard Thompson, who never ceases to astonish. Thompson played magical guitar that somehow evoked everything from bagpipes on a misty morn' to divebombing Stukas.

Later on indoors, I caught another old favorite, Austin's own True Believers. SXSW has gotten so huge that every available space gets turned into a music venue, including some that shouldn't. The Believers played in a bike shop owned by Lance Armstrong, an odd and acoustically atrocious venue made even odder by all the pictures of the disgraced bike-racing icon on the walls. Nevertheless, the Believers just flat blew the roof off the joint with a blast of '80s glam-punk that has aged supremely well. It was the first time I'd seen them since...1994. I am delighted to report that they've not lost a step.

Another post-sundown highlight was Hiss Golden Messenger, working handle of Chapel Hill's M.C. Taylor, who played solo acoustic in a downtown Austin church and joked that he just doesn't play anything more uptempo than an amble. But his lyrical sentiments are just lacerating ("Heaven is the cruelest of 'em all" being just one"), sung in a plainspoken and quiet voice over exquisite acoustic guitar. It's difficult to describe what it is that makes him so affecting. He just is. There's a new album coming and it's great. More later.

This weekend will bring lots more March madness, including some possible opportunities to see a few big-name party-crashers who were announced at the last minute: Prince, Green Day and Justin Timberlake. The marketing goes on. But there's more magic in SXSW's smaller moments, like Hiss Golden Messenger playing for a few dozen attentive folks in a church.

AUSTIN, Texas -- At one point during his remarkable South By Southwest keynote speech on Thursday, Bruce Springsteen rattled off several-score different pop-music styles, from avant-garde metal to "Nintendo-core." He was making the point that there is no longer any unified center to popular music, and it's hard to argue with that.

For evidence, all you had to do was take a walk down Sixth Street, SXSW's main drag, which actually was no mean feat. SXSW has become such a huge party-destination spot that the crowds can be almost impossible to negotiate; like Franklin Street in Chapel Hill on Halloween, only a lot louder. And you heard everything down there -- scratchy swamp blues, collegiate drumlines, third-word talking-drum ensembles and every sort of acoustic jugband imaginable; I saw one young group on the street that even had a bassoonist.

The music landscape SXSW brings together is impossible to make sense of beyond marveling at what a chaotic, anything-goes scrum it is. The best thing to do is just drift around taking it all in.

And so I did, starting with North Carolina's own grand old men of power-pop the dB's. The original quartet is back together and has a new album coming in June -- that lineup's first in 30 (!) years. Showing off the new material was job one, but they also worked in somc choice oldies including "Happenstance" and the should've-been-a-hit-back-in-1984 "Love Is For Lovers." Afterward, a group of like-minded younger guns from the Triangle played, including Jeff Crawford, Django Haskins, Brett Harris and Matt Michaelson.

If you were to look up the phrase "withering deadpan" in an encyclopedia of onstage expressions (which doesn't exist, but it should), you'd see a picture of Magnetic Fields mastermind Stephin Merritt. He and bandmate Claudia Gonson weren't pleased with how chattery the crowd was, calling out the audience more than once. It's a shame the crowd wasn't more attentive, because the quintet's delicate acoustic chamber-pop was beautiful.

I don't know how, but local heroes The Love Language seem to grow somehow larger in presence every time I see them. It's not just because of massive volume, either; the group's  intense pop soundscapes grow ever grander, more epic and also scarier. Love hurts, you know.

Then there was Royal Teeth, a young and impossibly attractive New Orleans pop band with a sound so bright, it almost seemed to pulsate colors. They weren't doing anything new, in the grand scheme of things -- but it was new to them and the kids crowded in to watch in a Sixth Street bar, as the rest of SXSW raged on all around. And that was enough. The kids are all right.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Bruce Springsteen came to South By Southwest to do the keynote speech, but you knew he wouldn't leave town without playing a show.

(See photos from South by Southwest here.)

And it was predictably spectacular, a two-and-a-half-hour blowout in downtown Austin's Moody Theatre (where "Austin City Limits" is filmed). Springsteen brought in an expanded 17-piece version of the E Street Band for a show that was alternately a pre-tour live showcase (you can see it yourself Monday in Greensboro) and an all-star jam with cameo guests including Jimmy Cliff, Joe Ely, Arcade Fire and other luminaries.

But more notable than those in attendance was the one missing. Saxophonist Clarence Clemons, who passed away last June, cast a long shadow over the proceedings and his absence was acknowledged several times. During "My City of Ruins," which was recast as a soul ballad, Springsteen went into preacher mode and namechecked the E Street Bandmembers onstage. And at the end, where he used to call out Clemons, The Boss asked, "Are we missing anybody?" The crowd roared in the affirmative, both for Clemmons and Danny Federici (who died in 2008).

Then during the penultimate "Tenth Avenue Freezeout," there's the line about how "the big man has joined the band." And where Clemons would played his sax solo, Springsteen led the crowd in a prolonged cheer of tribute for the departed. It was immensenely touching, and done with such humility and grace that it felt more like a celebratory wake than a funeral. Having the big man's nephew Jake Clemons filling in for him on sax elsewhere was a perfect touch.

Other highlights were a savagely angry "Seeds"; the hip-hop gospel offbeats of "Rocky Ground" from Springsteen's new "Wrecking Ball" album (which debuted at No. 1 on the charts all over the world this week); reggae legend Jimmy Cliff's three-song cameo, which somehow didn't include "Trapped" but was still fantastic; and "The Promised Land" and "Badlands," with the E Street Band blaring like a hopped-up Chevy.

Here's what's most remarkable about the show, however: It wasn't even the best thing I saw on Thursday. And what could have possibly topped it? Why, Springsteen's own keynote speech, of course. It was one for the ages, far and away the best speech I've seen anyone do in 25 years of coming to South By Southwest.

Springsteen has always been an incredible public speaker (check out his U2 Hall of Fame induction speech),  because he is first and foremost a fan. And he gave a positively inspiring spiel in which that love came through, covering a half-century of pop-music through the prism of artists who influenced and inspired him -- Elvis, Roy Orbison, the Beatles, Sex Pistols, Curtis Mayfield, Sam Moore, James Brown, Bob Dylan, Hank Williams, Jerry Lee Lewis and lots more.

A few times, he broke out a guitar to demonstrate. He played the opening stretch of the Animals' "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," then concluded, "That's every song I've ever written." Then he strummed a bit of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," transititioning that seamlessly into "Badlands." It was an amazing display that taught you a lot about Springsteen's music and its themes of connections. At his show later, Springsteen brought out Animals frontman Eric Burdon to close the circle. It was wonderful.

Eventually, Springsteen's speech came around to Woody Guthrie as the figure who tied it all together -- the "ghost in the machine" who tried to answer Hank Williams' question about why your bucket has a hole in it. He offered wise council to youngsters about learning the craft without being imprisoned by it, or by history. And he closed with Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," the verse about trespassing that usually gets skipped:

As I was walkin',  I saw a sign there
And that sign said, no tress passin'
But on the other side, it didn't say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!

He began the chorus and then paused. "This song is meant to be sung by everyone," he said. Yes, it was corny. But the man was not to be denied and the crowd of jaded South By Southwest hipsteratsi, many thousands strong, joined right in. Yours truly misted up a little. It was a beautiful thing.

I feel sorry for whoever has to try and follow this as next year's keynote speaker.

Well, the good news is that Bruce Springsteen's U.S. tour includes a North Carolina date. But the bad news is that said date ain't here in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill vicinity. It's over in the Triad, March 19 at Greensboro Coliseum. On-sale date for those who want to make the trek is Feb. 3.
 

Sadly, the Big Man is no more. Clarence Clemons, saxophone-wielding giant in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, has passed on, felled by complications from a stroke. He was such a larger-than-life presence that it's kind of unimaginable to think of a world, not just a Springsteen/E Street Band show, without him in it.

In the meantime, lots of folks have been digging up classic Springsteen clips to post as tributes. But here's one from the more obscure corner of his catalog, which is obscure only because life is so grotesquely unfair. This is a song that should have been an enormous hit back in the day -- Ian Hunter's "All of the Good Ones Are Taken." Even though the video shows the butler sax-syncing the riff that comes in at 2:18, that is unmistakably Clemons doing the playing on the recording. And his bittersweet wail pretty much makes the song.

Fare thee well, Big Man, we will see you on the other side.

ADDENDUM (6/24/11): Dave Marsh remembers.

You have to watch this.

Last night, Jimmy Fallon gave Bruce Springsteen a full hour (and it was great) on his show, "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon."

One of the highlights was this duet cover of Willow Smith's "Whip Your Hair." Fallon performed as Neil Young. 

Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuce!

Bones (8pm, Fox) - Brennan's whirlwind tutorial in pop culture gets put to the test when she and Booth investigate the remains of a 23-year-old man who was seen carousing the previous night at a Jersey shore nightclub.

Community (8pm, NBC) - Solidly funny every single week. Tonight, the gang rallies around Pierce (Chevy Chase) when his mother dies, and Professor Duncan (John Oliver) takes over Anthropology 101 when Professor Bauer (Betty White) takes a leave of absence.

30 Rock (8:30pm, NBC) - Jack goes before Congress hoping to use his wiles and charms in a debate about NBC's merger with Comcast. I mean, KableTown. When a congresswoman (Queen Latifah) pushes for more diversity in programming, Jack turns to Tracy for ideas. Rob Reiner also guest stars.

The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town (9pm, HBO) - Interviews and archival footage chronicle the creative process, recording sessions, and legal problems that preceded the 1978 release of Bruce Springsteen's fourth album, "Darkness on the Edge of Town." Here's a nice Brian Williams interview with Springsteen about the film and album.

Grey's Anatomy (9pm, ABC) - Derek's estranged sister Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) visits, bringing lots of old baggage. Also, the chief notices that Alex hasn't been taking elevators since the shooting and tries to help him.

Real Housewives of DC (9pm, Bravo) - The first season finale centers on Michaele and Tareq Salahi as they attend/crash a White House state dinner. Hmm. Anyone heard anything about that?

Rosanne Cash will be in Raleigh Friday night to do a reading from her book, and it probably won't involve any singing -- see the interview from Friday's paper for more about that. And even if Cash does sing, it probably won't be as momentous an occasion as her last time in the Triangle. That was back in April when she played at Duke University, and Bruce Springsteen showed up onstage for a song. Springsteen was in town to check out the campus with his daughter; he sang with Cash on "Sea of Heartbreak," reprising his duet role on her last album.

"Someone called my manager and said that Bruce is coming to the show," Cash recalled. "He told me this and I laughed. 'No, he's not.' But he did come and he sat in the wings with his little boy for the whole show, which was so sweet and surprising. When he got there before the show, we were talking and John [Leventhall, Cash's husband/producer] finally said, 'I hate to bring up the obvious, but would you like to come out and sing on "Sea of Heartbreak"?' 'Gee,' he said, 'let me see if I can remember that.' So we went over it a couple of times in the dressing room and he still had it down. It was beautiful, such a great moment."

This is quite a week for iconic 1970s-vintage rock-star dudes at Duke University's Page Auditorium. First came an unannounced Bruce Springsteen star turn on Thursday night, when he did a one-song cameo with Rosanne Cash. And on Saturday afternoon, Jackson Browne will be at Page to receive the second annual Duke LEAF Award for Lifetime Environmental Achievement in the Fine Arts.

The Browne ceremony happens at 2 p.m. and tickets are free if picked up in person at the Duke University box office in the Bryan Center (call 684-4444). Be advised, however, that this won't be a concert; but maybe Browne can be persuaded to sing a bit.

Or maybe one of them will show up tonight at this. 

The Kennedy Center Honors broadcast is always one of the best shows of the year. On Tuesday night we saw tributes to Robert Deniro, Bruce Springsteen, Mel Brooks, Dave Brubeck, and Grace Bumbry.

All of the tributes were fantastic, but my favorite moment was Jon Stewart's introduction of The Boss. Perfection. You can watch a little bit of that intro below (it's a shame the entire segment isn't available). Also interesting is this feature on Springsteen's induction and an interview with CBS's Julie Chen (here's the second part of that interview).