The giant South by post

So SXSW has come and gone again. This year was truly, exhaustingly, wonderful. A lot of the credit for my good time can go to these two characters:

Don't look so surprised guys, you're actually a lot of fun and super easy house guests.
Yeah, yeah, I am laying it on awful thick. Anyway, the troublemakers above are my friends Matt and Tyler. Matt and I have been friends forever - over a decade in fact. We're such good friends, in fact, that we almost completely lost touch for eleven years, but lost no time figuring out we still loved each other once we found ourselves in proximity again. Now, I mean love in the totally platonic sense. I mention this because I apparently caused a huge scandal with a couple of the older ladies in my office when they heard that I had a MALE friend coming to stay with me. Was my husband ok with that? The horror! The scandal! I decided not to mention the second male guest coming to stay. The one I hadn't even met yet. Yep, my good friend Tyler (guy on the right up there) made my acquaintance when we picked him up from the airport. Luckily, I can trust Matt's opinion on good people and Tyler was no exception. He may be something like 50 years behind the technology age, but he's still a really sweet guy, and a lot of fun. He even left us a super nice thank you note for letting him stay with us. (That's right Matt, he totally one-upped you on the thanking us routine. What a bastard!)

So back to the festival. Pacing myself became important. It is easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of shows. It also takes some planning when you find yourself sans SXSW wristband or badge, as we did. For the best plans, I recommend my method... although that comes with the assumption that you also have Matt and Tyler to point you in the right direction. We spent a day wandering South Congress into downtown, with a brief stop at Jo's to listen to a free show and snag a picture of this sign to make Lisa and Karla jealous:

On to the big news, the night shows! I only had one show that I was determined to make a try for despite concern that it might be a badge/wristband affair only. (As a short aside, badges are full-blown festival goers and get the first in to the shows. Very 'spensive. Wristbands are a nod to the local crowd - only sold locally and not quite so pricey - and are allowed into shows not fully packed with badges. Next year we'll probably invest in some wristbands.) The show I really wanted to see was The Hold Steady at The Mohawk Friday night. Matt had recommended the band, as well as Kate, my other music guru,  so I knew it was going to be good. Unfortunately, I'd heard a lot of buzz for the show, making it seem like it was going to be a tough ticket to get. And so we decided to try an old strategy - show up super early and beg, if necessary. Twenty dollars and zero begging later, we were in a few bands ahead of the main event. I'm so glad we got there early, since it definitely resulted in some extra perks. 1. We got a really sweet spot upstairs that was literally right over the stage, and 2. we got to hear some other really good bands, including a new favorite of mine, The Ettes. 

Rob downloaded everything they have out the day after the show. Also, aside from having a really great sound, their drummer was insanely hot. Yes, she's a girl. Yes, she's also beautiful enough that I think rocks would find her attractive. As Matt put it, "she's the type of girl you'd see on the street and be intimidated. And that's before you watch her beat the hell out of those drums". Sadly my picture doesn't do her, or the rest of the band, justice. South by shows can be a little militant about cameras so you have to settle for my iPhone's nighttime capabilities.

By the time the Hold Steady came on, I was already very pleased with the turn our evening had taken. This show, though, was worth all of the buzz and then some. 

These guys have so much energy, and what can only be described as a cult following. Seeing them in such a small venue was an amazing experience.

After the show, we slowly wandered back toward 6th street and stopped to roll our eyes at the Guitar Hero show at Stubbs featuring Metallica. Seriously, it's like they want a personal apology for my loathing. Well, sorry guys. I've heard the new stuff and it's not good either. We snagged some "only good this late at night" pizza from a street vendor and trekked it back to the car. Finally went home happy and ready to sleep.

Saturday, we decided to pace ourselves and didn't head downtown until late afternoon. By "we", I mean Rob and I. Matt and Tyler weren't letting silly things like mental and physical exhaustion come between them and more shows. So "we" picked up Brook and headed downtown with a blanket under my arm and plans to hit the free show at Auditorium Shores. It was a gorgeous day.

We stopped at Jo's for a quick bite and more time to play with my camera.

This is Rob's rocker look. Isn't he hardcore?

So we met up briefly with Matt and Tyler, but split up again so they could go make one last bid to see Ed Harcourt, and we headed over to grab some lawn space at Auditorium Shores. Partway across the bridge I got a text from Matt - the Ed Harcourt set was being filmed and they needed more people for the crowd. We were suddenly looking at a free show + air conditioning. Hard to argue with that. So we ran over to the Convention Center to meet the guys and our free tickets before we got shut out. I sustained a minor injury on the way (I run into things when I hurry, it's a hazard), but still got there in time to see a really great performance. 

After that, it was back to the Auditorium Shores plan. This was good since I was starting to feel kind of stupid carrying a blanket around by that point. We got over to the park and through the gates just before the band featuring Erykah Badu went on. That band may have been ok, but I think being high would have helped the overall enjoyment of them. Instead we enjoyed each other's company, and of course the view.

We scooted up close and grabbed some ground space in time for the main event, local band Explosions in the Sky. Ah, how I love them. They even played my favorite song "Your hand in mine". If you haven't heard it, go find it! I'm not sure whether it was the SXSW producers or the City of Austin that decided to spring with the literal approach, but the show ended with, well, explosions in the sky.

Now this would have been a great cap to the evening, but we were just getting started. We headed back across the river into downtown and decided to try our luck getting into La Zona Rosa to see Crystal Method. They were allowing in the unwashed masses when we got there, but for $20 a pop. We had a streetside conference and decided we'd skip that show to try and catch a few others instead. Crystal Method actually seems to come to Austin a lot, so we knew we'd have other opportunities for them. We decided to make a run to the Hilton to see The Proclaimers. Thirty minutes and one wrong hotel later (who knew there were two Hiltons downtown?) we found the show. This one turned out to be my most bizarre experience of the festival. We were in essentially a small ballroom standing about 10 feet from this amazing band. And yes, I sang out loud to "(I'm gonna be) 500 miles". 

From there we tried to see ... wow, I really can't remember, but who cares because that show was not allowing entry to the little people. Instead, we decided to walk by Stubbs and have a laugh at our chances to get in to see Third Eye Blind. Lo and behold, they were selling tickets! We very quickly snagged ours and headed inside laughing somewhat deliriously at our ridiculous luck. Third Eye Blind was good and they played their entire new album (much to the disgust of some of the drunks nearby, but whatevs, I liked it). [Insert rant about SXSW being all about supporting NEW music here.] 

Anyway, after that show we regrouped and headed back toward the car. It was about this point that things started to go awry. Post-2am on 6th street is a little odd on any night, but we were witnessing the full effect of hipster drunkenness. It was a long walk, but definitely full of images I won't be forgetting soon - no matter how hard I try. Once we escaped downtown, we headed to Magnolia Cafe for some late night food. This was a popular decision so we finally got in a booth and food ordered around 3:20am. Which was when we looked at our watch. Which was when we realized that we were running very short on time to get Matt and Tyler back to the friend's house where their stuff was waiting to be packed and where Tyler had an airport shuttle set to pick him up at 4:15am. (Ok, small aside. Matt and Tyler split their overnights between our house and this other friend.  We'd gone along with handing over custody without a fuss when the other friend picked them up, feeling somewhat like divorced parents, but in the future I'm keeping them for myself. I'm also keeping them in South Austin so as not be fricking far from the airport.) We got our food to go and booked it out of there. We arrived at the friend's house just before 4am. Whew! Um, not so fast. Said friend had gone to stay with her boyfriend that night and her roommate had misunderstood the "don't lock the door" edict. Needless to say, we were standing in the driveway with no access to their stuff. By the time Matt got the friend on the phone and she came home to let them in, the shuttle had come and gone. What can a friend do at this point but offer to make an airport run? We rushed Tyler to the airport, and thankfully got him there in plenty of time. We were now pushing 5:30am. Brook won my favorite quote of the evening/morning with "Have you ever seen the sun rise out the window of a Jetta? Because you're about to." Brook finally got to go home after the airport. Matt was referring to her as kidnapped by this point. Rob, Matt and I headed back to the house to get some sleep before it was time for Matt to catch his flight. I crawled into bed at 6am and crawled back out 4 hours later for one final airport trip. After that it was time for recovery mode.

SXSW was amazing this year. As much as I can complain about the lame hipsters overrunning my beloved town, there's something to be said for a time when you just can't go anywhere without hearing good music. It literally permeates the air as though every corner has its own soundtrack. Having good friends to share it with was the very best part. Especially since they also helped me prove that I'm not yet too old to stay out all night.