SXSW = Awesome

The past week or so was my first SXSW, an annual Austin festival that is really three festivals in one: Interactive, Film, and Music. It was pretty crazy - tons and tons and tons of people from all over the world condensed into downtown. Naturally, traffic got worse, parking was impossible, and clueless pedestrians everywhere. But despite all that, SXSW was pure awesome. I’m sad it’s over.

Thanks to the Statesman, I got to attend SXSW Interactive (SXSWi), the first part of SXSW, as a fully registered participant. This entailed spending all day at the convention center to attend panels about “web and interactive stuff” - AJAX, XML, Javascript, Web Apps, Web Programming, Web Design, Mobile Web Apps, yada yada yada - real dorky stuff. People from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, [insert internet giant or supercool company name here], as well as just well-known people in general were there, attending the conference and speaking on panels. So naturally, I learned a lot of good stuff and met some really cool people.

Then there were the happy hours and parties, where we could bask in free stuff: free drinks, free food, free music, free t-shirts, free hats, free gadgets, free stickers… free everything! I got a TON of stuff, practically a whole new wardrobe. Highlights were the Blogger party (yes, the same Blogger as THIS Blogger) at Club Deville and the CHOW/Consumating party at Mohawk on Sunday (3/11) night. What Made Milwaukee Famous played at the CHOW party, but I didn’t see them because they were playing in a tiny room (it rained so they had to move the music inside) and it was WAY too crowded in there. I had seen them just the previous weekend, and as you’ll find out soon, I got to see them again later anyway!

When SXSWi was over, the SXSW Music Festival started up. I didn’t see much the first couple of days (Than managed to catch Los Straitjackets, Architecture in Helsinki, etc. though), which mainly consisted of wandering around downtown at night to check out how long the lines were and getting free ice cream (yep, the free stuff continued). Friday and Saturday were the major music days for me - and every show I went to was free. :)

To sum up Friday:

• Tift Merritt and Billy Jo Shaver at Jo’s Coffee on S. Congress: This was clearly the highlight(s) of the evening. The crowd here was so laid back that when we got there, everyone was just sitting in folding chairs, which were 20-or-so feet away from the stage. This meant that we were able to stroll right up to the very front-center of the stage and sit down, and that is where we remained for the rest of the night. The shows were awesome, in different ways - Tift’s show was more of an acoustic show, while Billy Jo’s was pure yee-haw outlaw country. They were both really into it and having a great time, which really made the shows great, and of course it helps when you’re a foot away.
• Apples In Stereo at the Yep Roc day party: more free stuff, in addition to the awesome music from the band. I had heard about them a lot before, but never actually heard them.They’re quite good, may need to check out their albums.
• Twilight Sad at Emo’s Lounge: a three-man band from Scotland with some cool tunes. Lead singer’s got a neat voice.
• Red Collar at the Dirty Dog: Than’s grad-school-friend Andrew Blass’s band came all the way from North Carolina, so we naturally had to see them. They pretty much tore it up - besides the Riverboat Gamblers, not sure who’s got more energy than this bunch. I got a pretty neat free hat here, too :).
• Auditorium Shores: Lots of vendors for even more free stuff (diggin’ the Mentos). We only saw the first couple of songs from Ozomatli before heading out to Jo’s Coffee for the rest of the evening.
• Stars of Track and Field at 7th and Trinity parking lot: We only caught only the last bit of the band, but we managed to get a ton of free stuff.

Saturday highlights:

• What Made Milwaukee Famous at Jo’s Coffee: We found ourselves in very familiar territory Saturday night, directly in front of the stage at Jo’s to see WMMF. Because they are my recent band obsession, you know what I’m going to say about the show (totally awesome). They had a really good set full of their catchy tunes, and the lead singer has a really great voice. Go check them out if you haven’t already. The highlight of the night was me getting my very first setlist! I had my eye on it the entire show (hard not to when it’s two feet from you), and you’ll be glad to know that I asked for permission first before grabbing it.
• The Riverboat Gamblers at Auditorium Shores: OK, these guys are nuts, especially the lead singer. I don’t know what that guy eats or drinks, but there can’t be possibly anything that can give him *that* much energy. He was all over the place - jumping and running all over the stage, running way out into the crowd several times (he passed right in front of me one of the times), climbed up the stage railings, climbed up next to the big screen - he really took advantage of that wireless mic! I had seen them once before at the FunFunFun Fest in December, so I knew what to expect, but it’s not like anything is ever predictable.
• BORIS at Auditorium Shores: We only caught a bit of their set, but it was pretty cool to see a hardcore rockin’ band with members who are all Asian!
• Twilight Sad at Homeslice Pizza: We began the day seeing the Scottish band a second time. Yummy pizza too.

SXSW in a nutshell: What else but super-duper awesome? I saw a ton of awesome shows without paying a single dollar, plus I got a bunch of free stuff. I wish they did this every week :).

Check out my SXSW photos in the gallery!