Every Once in a While....

It's so nice to talk a half day on Fridays, and that's exactly what we did yesterday, enjoying our first full day in Austin, Texas, at the South by Southwest music festival.

We woke up early, posted a bit and then went to the Four Seasons to meet up with Mika and his sister, Yasmine, at the Billboard magazine brunch.

Being in an oasis of rockers and music industry types is a refreshing change of pace from the film festival circuit.

After an omelet and some music, we hopped in the car with Mika and his posse and headed over to the Island Records showcase to watch Miz Amy Winehouse's top notch performance.

It was just her and a guitar player and it was captivating. Four songs. Very tight.

Our beloved Wino has a voice that's haunting!

We shared a margarita with Amy before the show and we also introduced her to Mika. It's shocking that they had never met before yesterday.

Even more shocking than that, though, was the fact that Jugs & Ass's dad, Joe Simpson, was at the Island showcase.

He's a closet Amy Winehouse fan?

Not really! But we kinda love the fact that he was there AND he was wearing shoes made by Jacob the Jeweler that were custom-painted and said "Papa Joe" on them. Yes!

LOVE it!

We introduced Mika to Papa Joe as well, and we joked the that bleached former preacher was our hairstylist. He actually found it amusing and played along.

After Amy's performance, we stopped by a local Mexican crafts store after Mika saw something in the window that struck his fancy. When you travel all over the world, sometimes you like to buy little mementos!

We then made our way to the Blender magazine suite, where the boys picked up some SWAG.

Who doesn't love free shit?

South by Southwest is fun (lots of it), but it's also hard work. And Mika performed three gigs on Friday.

First, we headed to tape a few songs for Yahoo music and then do an interview, and then we headed back to the Island Records showcase, where he did a few songs with just his piano and a guitar player.

After some dinner at the Four Seasons, an exhausted Mika went to take a power nap. Perez, though, had some Red Bull and went to catch Amy Winehouse (again) at La Zona Rosa for the BBC Radio showcase.

As one would hope and expect, Amy was drunk, as she declared to the crowd, yet she was still able to put on an excellent show.

Accompanied by a full band and that lush "Wall of Sound," Winehouse's almost 50 minute set focused almost exclusively on her breakthrough sophomore album, Back to Black, which was just released in America this past week and went to #1 on the iTunes album charts. Amazing!

After Amy's show, we practically ran over to the Time Out magazine party to catch the sexiest and most talented Canadian we know, Peaches.

It was madness!

With a line down the block and a crowded club inside, Peaches' midnight gig was THE show of the evening!

Unfortunately, the electro punk princess was only given 40 minutes to perform, not anywhere near long enough.

The precious few moments she did spend on stage were magical.

No one can get a party going quite like Peaches!

Spotted in the crowd were Mickey Avalon and Cisco Adler, who started blushing when we talked about HIS BALLS.

You had to be there.

After Peaches' power-packed set, we ran back to La Zona Rosa to catch Mika perform (again)!

Performing the last set of the evening at the BBC Showcase, Mika didn't take the stage until well after 1:00 AM on Saturday morning, but he was well worth the wait.

His performance was the best we've ever seen him give....and we've seen him in concert a lot!

Mika was relaxed, happy, cracking jokes and having lots of fun in between filling that cavernous club with his infectious power pop.

He even whipped out his cover of Shakira's Hips Don't Lie.

We were beyond tired after more than 15 hours out and about, but we enjoyed our day with our new friend Mika so much that we just had to kick it with him and the band a bit more (until almost 4 AM!) and celebrate such an awesome performance.

If you're a music lover, then South by Southwest is your wet dream.

We are thrilled to be here and definitely plan on coming back next year!

Mika Mika getting his hair did.

Taking advantage of the makeup artist brought to Mika's hotel before his on-camera performances, Perezzz thought it'd be cute to get his eyes done and matching his outfit.

Mika: talk to the hand, fatso!

Queen Peaches.

It doesn't get any hotter than her!

Slippery dick!

One of the biggest highlights of the night? Three girls from Austin made special "Perez" t-shirts, which they wore to the Mika show. We were so touched! Perez almost started crying. Pussy!

[Perez's shirt by Billionaire Boys Club. Thanks Pharrell Williams! Jeans courtesy of Levi's and sneakers courtesy of Converse.]