Instead of boring you with the chronology and needless details I’m going to run you through elements of SXSW that are more or less going to stick to me for good. I’m to divide this in 3 parts: 1. Convention Centre 2. Music / 6th Street. 3. Food maybe?
Let me give you a rundown of my current stats:
The bike ride into downtown is pretty neat. I know I say that with tourist’s eyes but every morning I can’t wait to jump on the bike and numb my groin. I’m even a little psyched (about half the psychtitude of the morning) to ride home at 3am after a night out. It’s just kinda liberating. At first I was all, holy-shmit-I-gotta-stay-on-the-footpath. Now I’m all like pissing off drivers and shit and feeling like a local for doing that. I’ve learnt that when you’re actually smack bang in downtown, you have to take the school-of-fish mentality…try and follow the little clouds of cyclist families for protection on the roads.
Anyhow, one of the reasons I like the ride into downtown is that there’s always a massive crowd walking into SXSW. Yes, this would piss off the local residents to the max, but I’m a tourist and this is special and cool and interesting, so there. It’s just so vibrant and kind of makes you feel like you’re marching into battle. Another reason is that there are a slew of worthy Mexican restaurants on Cesar Chavez Street (the main street closest to home), one restaurant I’m starting to frequent is JUAN IN A MILLION. They do yummo breakfast tacos, how good they are is debatable as I’ve only really consumed them whilst starving. Though I did put their number on speed dial.
SXSW’s heart is at the Austin Convention Center. This is the base of operations for the session-going/badge-wearing folk. Here are some positives and negatives of the Austin Convention Center:
Positives:
- Hands down the greatest spot to get a much needed power nap. Choose a floor with no action, chuck some sunnies on and you’re on your way to minute sleep nirvana.
- Free power and wifi.
- Can’t really escape live music in Austin. Literally next door to your session room, live music will be playing. Wandered into the Day Radio Stage room to find Vampire Weekend and The Divine Fits and a load of phenomenal international acts which I spent my green on for their records.
Negatives:
- I’m pretty damn keen for a cheese pizza or a grilled cheese sandwich most minutes of the day, but DAMN some parts of the center have a potent melted cheese smell. It’s a very odd sensation, being in a gloriously air conditioned establishment but being blasted with melted cheese scents. Dafuq. They should maybe move their food stalls outside. Just maybe. Suggestion box.
- Yeah pretty much the above, melted cheese is pretty bad when you’re not eating it.
Sessions:
So the sessions reminded me of being at uni again. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing at this point of time in my life. The sessions give me structure in my life at SXSW. Rushing to get your coffee just so you can catch the opening lines of the session…watching people do that kind of gritted-teeth look as they tip-toe there way half way through. I had a physical paper notebook out and was scratching notes. Damn.
As suggested by SXSW veterans, the best sessions were those that might not be related to you. Sadly (for their theory), a lot did relate and scared/excited me as a musician. I won’t go into detail about what was said cause that’s not the point of this blog thing, but what I can say now is it’s a bit clearer as to how I should navigate my practice into modern models of the music industry. A lot of work to be done that’s for sure. A lot of luck to harvest as well. Notable sessions I’ve caught so far are David Grohl talking about his life, Amanda Palmer with her navigation of the music industry, what Spotify means right now for artists, Kickstarter 101’s. Blah blah blah artists will lead a poor life etc.
So the day is full of sessions for me. In the night, music takes over. I’ll cover that in part 2 or something.
Cheers,
-Chumpy