There are 299 days and 4 hours until South by Southwest 2009 begins!
Events & Parties
Lively happenings OUTSIDE the conference hall.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
SXSW Baby! Social Agenda, Tuesday, March 11
Winding down, winding up. We’re just at the midpoint of SXSWeek, time to take a breath and reflect before planning the full frontal assault on Music. Here’s a handful of evening parties where you might find the Baby!
The Bigg Digg Shindigg: The fascination with doubled-consonants aside, this will probably prove the must-do, longest lines party of the night. Hit the PureVolume Ranch (323 East 2nd) from 9 pm–4 am for live music and DJs, a full bar and probably a few thousand “Digg this” puns. You’ll survive.
Interactive Closing Party: Stumble down to Union Park (612 W 6th) beginning at 8 pm for DJ sets from the Daily Juice Crew, DJ Prince Klassen, DJ Raedawn and more. Interactive badge required.
Vuguru Presents the All-For-Nots: Meet “the band that will conquer the world wide web” at Club de Ville (900 Red River) from 5:30–8 pm. RSVP required at .
Film Closing/Music Opening Party: The amphitheatre at Stubb’s (801 Red River) makes room for live performances by Moby (DJ Set), London-based DJ duo Addicitve TV, Kaki King, and OurStage artist Sydney Wayser. 7–11 pm, Film or Music badge required.
A hundred tweets are spreading the news: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg will be hosting an open Q&A session today at 4:30 pm at Pangaea, the warehouse district lounge in the location of the former Alamo Drafthouse, 409 Colorado.
OK, people, now don’t panic. This is what we’ve trained for. Esta es la noche. The Monday night party scene at SXSW went critical a few years ago and has just gotten bigger from there. Here’s a sample of why you’ll be hurting tomorrow:
ROCK.OPERA.SXSW: Meet the stars of the indie browser scene at Stubb’s outdoor amphitheatre. Los Angeles rock bands, super DJs and demos of Opera across many platforms from 5–midnight. RSVP required.
Austin on Rails Happy Hour: Imagine it! Dozens upon hundreds of Ruby on Rails devs in one bar filled with pool tables, games and beer. It’s beautiful, right? Find out at Buffalo Billiards (Sixth & Brazos) from 6–9 pm. Interactive badge or RSVP to required.
Ypulse All-Ages Mixer: Ypulse.com, a blog about youth culture aimed at media and marketing folk, holds a meetup and mixer with live teen-powered entertainment from Blues Mafia and spoken word poets from The Cipher. Find out what’s up and why the kids are all right at Cafe Mundi (1704 East 5th) from 7–9 pm.
20x2 v.8.0: “What’s the difference?”: The concept is awfully simple: Gather 20 webgeeks, writers, artists, filmmakers, musicians...you know, assorted creative types. Pose the same question to all of them. Then give them only two minutes to answer it. The result, though, is definitely more than the sum of its 40 minutes. Host Mike Stephens (you shall know him by his tux) and event producers Kevin Newsum and Jeff Rider always put on a good show. If you do only one thing on Monday night, go find out “What’s the difference?”.
The Great British Booze-Up: They’re back! But the SXSW British invasion does have some lovely side benefits, including this party at Shakespeare’s Pub (314 E. Sixth) put together by the folks at Clearleft, Carsonified and Boagworld. It’s “an evening of music, drinking and merriment” with an added bonus this year: food. Come meet some of your favorite British designers or, if you haven’t any, come meet some.
South by Northwest: For the third year in a row, Blue Flavor, Bryght and Raincity Studios team up to present three floors of fun at Iron Cactus. (We’re all trying to forget being crammed into the tiny Cactus Room back in 2006.) Enjoy free drinks and fantastic socializing in what is probably the city’s premiere tequila and margarita emporium. Our advice: Arrive early or be resigned to the line.
Limewire Party: Get up and get down at Club de Ville (900 Red River) with performances by The Low Lows, Virginia Coalition, and Scissors For Lefty. Comp beer and Limewire swag are both on tap from 7–10 pm.
Plutopia!: Apparently it’s got nothing to do with that Disney dog. Whew! Anyway, anyone who promises us “the biggest, boldest party at SXSW Interactive” has set their own bar rather high. They’ll be at Scholz Garden (1607 San Jacinto) with music by Carl Stone, Intimate Stranger, and David Demaris; the always worthy Heather Gold Show; a talk by author Bill McKibben, the Lance Van de Kamp Show featuring Maggie Duval, Omega Monster Patrol, along with a diverse set of artists, hackers, bots, and poets. That’s enough to put the plut in your opia, bingo. Interactive badge or $10 cover.
Hey! Ho! Let’s Go!: Show off your Rock Band chops at Cedar Street Courtyard (208 West 4th) from 8 pm–midnight, and marvel at the mad skillz of some homegrown web celeb bands. Stick around for live sets from The Vettes and Brenn. Badge from any conference or RSVP on Upcoming required.
End Sounds at Emo’s: Jonathan Gill’s Austin label End Sounds presents Tumbledown, True Widow, The Mag Seven and one-time only Black Flag cover band Nervous Breakdown. Now that’s a party. 8 pm until close at Emo’s (603 Red River). All ages, $5–$8 cover.
Just in case you’re not already convinced that 20x2 is a must-see event at SXSW, you’ll have two opportunities to be swayed by co-creator Kevin Newsum and emcee Mike Stephens, the best dressed man in Austin, when they pimp the event tomorrow morning on two Austin radio stations: on KGSR (107.1 FM), broadcasting live from the Four Seasons at 7:10 am, and on 101X KROX at the somewhat more tolerable hour of 9:25 am.
Are you looking to make up for that lost hour tonight? If you’re not still haunting the Scoot Inn after last night’s legendary 16 Bit, the Baby! suggests these evening diversions:
Afternoon Delight: Those Yahoo! yahoos from Flickr and Fire Eagle set the table for the night to come with food, drink and tuneage from Pademonium Jones at the Iron Cactus, 4–8 pm.
Avalonstar Bowling Extravaganza: Ah, geeks in rented shoes! ABX returns for its third year during SXSW Interactive. ABX has quickly become one of the most popular events during Interactive week and, best of all, it’s free for both spectators and bowlers, thanks to some generous sponsors. They’ve even arranged bus service to and from the lanes.
imeem’s Smash-up: “More bar, less camp” is what they promise and, although we’re big fans of camp—as anyone who spotted a particular Baby! Sitter on the dance floor last night knows—we do like a good bar also. Tonight it’s Beauty Bar (7th at Red River) at 8 pm with performances by DJ Klever, Prince Klassen and The Fluokids.
Get Weirdly Wired: “Rogue-traders, MSFT/YHOO, elections… this is the weirdest year since the dawn of pixels.” Well, that sounds ominous, but it’s actually a promisingly hot party at the Austin City Limits studios, with entertainment by Spinto Band and Lightspeed Champion and featuring tamales, microbrews, margaritas and free shuttles.
Fray Café 8: Live, true and personal storytelling is a SXSW Interactive staple tradition, hosted this year by master word magician Baratunde Thurston at the Red Eyed Fly (715 Red River), with featured storytellers including Kevin Smokler, Heather Gold and Clarence Smith Jr., plus a five minute open mic for your true tale.
Gawker Media Party: Have a drink on Nick Denton’s dime at the Fourth Annual gathering by Gawker Media. The event promises an open bar, the cozy confines of Side Bar’s patio (602 East 7th) and the opportunity to rub elbows with your favorite editors from Gawker Media publications. This one will be hot, just like a certain Fleshbot editor of our acquaintance.
People Powered Party: Aren’t they all? Well, this one comes from the do-it-yourself crowd at Moo, Etsy, Timbuk2 and Threadless, so it’s a particularly artsy-craftsy hoedown. They’ll pack the Tap Room (311 Colorado) with food, drink, DIY activities and sets from DJ Mel, Kid Kameleon, and Flosstradamus.
Nerdcore Rising: MC Frontalot and Prince Paul perform live at the premiere party for Nerdcore Rising where “dancing and drinking are strongly encouraged.” We concur. Go nerds!
Also, don’t forget the SXSW Web Awards at the Hilton (6th Floor Ballroom) at 7:30 pm, with a pre-party 6–7 pm in Brush Square Park. We can’t do it all, but you can try. Check out more event listings on Upcoming, Showlist Austin, sched.org or the official SXSW site.
What’s that? The first full day of the conference has barely begun and you’re already looking toward the night? Well, we say good on ya! Here are just a handful of this evening’s events you might want to hit after the panels wind down:
Bike Hugger Beer & BBQ: Sounds like something out of Orwell, right? Two wheels good, four wheels bad. OK, perhaps it’s not that black and white. This event, promoting “bike culture blogged” promises “pedals not panels”, along with free beer and food in Brush Square Park, right outside the ACC. Free to badgeholders.
Dorkbot Austin: Take a bunch of hackers, designers, engineers and artists, pitch ‘em into Brush Square Park at 6 pm, and you wind up with something like a science fair mash-up, co-sponsored by Make Magazine, SXSW Interactive and the International Game Developers Association of Austin. Hot and nerdy!
GeekAustin Happy Hour: They describe the event in terms of a personal ad: “GeekAustin ISO fun m/f for drinks and interesting conversation at JBlack’s Feel Good Lounge (710 W 6th Street). Hobbies include hardware, software, microformats, accessibility, design, mashups, rich and social media.” Sounds like the pasty are ready to party!
Frog Design SXSW Interactive Opening Party: Frog Design parties are rightly legendary, if for no other reason than the elbow-to-elbow crowds they attract. Thankfully, they’ve graduated from hosting in their own offices to more spacious digs over the years. 2008’s party promises the funky sounds of Grupo Fantasma, the spectacle of fire dancers and more, at the Mexican American Cultural Center, 600 River Street, 8–11 pm. Interactive badge required.
AMODA Digital Showcase: Laptop battle! Laptop battle! Fight! Fight! The Austin Museum of Digital Art presents its annual party at The Mohawk, 912 Red River, featuring live electronic music and visual art. And yes, a laptop battle where digital musicians compete through a series of elimination rounds to try to outperform each other.
16 Bit: We probably should have guessed after last year’s off-the-hook “8 Bit” party that there’d be an upgraded sequel. Joyent, Pownce, Rocketboom, ComicVine, Get Satisfaction, Laughing Squid, 30 Boxes and Dogster/Catster have teamed up to produce the unofficial SXSWi opening after-party, with performances by 999 Eyes (a “human oddities freakshow"), DJ Invidkllr and DJ V.I.N.cent, an open bar, and...yes, more. RSVP required on Upcoming, Facebook or Pownce.
OK, before we start this thing, just remember: SXSW is a marathon, not a sprint. Trite and true, that should be your mantra for the days and nights to come. Don’t over-exert or over-commit yourself. There’s too much goodness in store to poop out early. Got it? Good. Here’s a selected round-up of events and parties you might want to check out this evening:
Friday Night Mix at Six: Actually, it’s the Friday Night Mix at Six at 6 pm. Hosted by Porter Novelli, it’s the official SXSWi pre-party atop the roof deck at Six, 117 W 4th St.
Higher Ed Web Meetup: Those party animals from the education sector take over a corner of Maggie Mae’s, 323 E 6th St., at 7 pm to debrief (figuratively, we hope) academia.
Coworking Meetup: Cow orking? What th—ooooh. Austin Coworkers will gather and welcome interested telecommuters at the uber-hip Hotel San Jose, 1316 S. Congress, at 7 pm.
Pre-SXSW Show: This 8 pm show at Red Eyed Fly, 715 Red River, tips things off early, with performances from Cobretti, For Sake of the Ruins, The Homicides, Axle Wolf and Sedium.
SXSW Film Opening Party: SXSW Film and A&E IndieFilms take over the entire Buffalo Billiards complex, 201 E. 6th St., from 10 pm until 2 am to kick off a week of unspoolings around town. Get your drink on and shoot a few racks, or check out Buffalo Billiards’ newer upstairs game room. Film badge required.
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you picture a large gathering of geeks for a tech conference? Dazzling displays of athleticsm, AMIRITE?!
OK, perhaps not, but still, there’s a surprising variety of sports and games activities planned around and during South by Southwest Interactive.
Biking:Bike Hugger has a couple of rides planned on Saturday, March 8 and, because it seems mandatory for any SXSW-related event, there’s a beer and BBQ gathering Saturday afternoon open to all badgeholders. Bicycle Sport Spot offers rentals during SXSW.
Climbing: Not the tech career ladder...no, these folks are serious climbers. Geeks Love Climbing has a plan to meet for a couple of hours of up and down on Friday evening, March 7.
Running: Candidly, the Baby! only runs when chased. But if you’re interested in getting in some roadwork during the conference, meet up with the SXSW Runners for 8 am runs on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
Of course, there is also the aforementioned Saturday morning kickball game organized by Anil Dash and the folks at Six Apart (with the promise of on-site coffee and tacos, the breakfast of champions) and Sunday’s Avalonstar Bowling Extravaganza, which is now full-up with teams but welcomes spectators who can’t get enough of web jockeys in rented shoes.
We’ve also heard rumors of pick-up hockey and basketball games in the offing. While we stick to such arduous events as the All-Day Panel Sit and the Marathon Bar Crawl, it appears everyone else will be out gettin’ all healthy. Ah well, that’s SXSW: something for everyone.
These days, the British show up in pretty large numbers for the various SXSW events, and that’s just fine. After all, the only revolution anyone much talks about is Web 2.0 and they’re all just so pleasant to listen to with their quaint accents. Among the contingents in 2008’s British invasion of Austin:
The Great British Booze-up: Always a cracking party and this year held at the aptly named Shakespeare’s Pub, Thanks to sponsors Clearleft, Boagworld and Carsonified and an extremely favorable currency exchange rate, there’ll be food, drink and considerable merriment. We also assume some of these good folk have figured out where and when to watch the weekend’s footy matches. Do let us know.
South by South West Midlands: Wha? Apparently it’s a bunch of UK birds ‘n’ blokes who will do your bidding while they’re in Austin. “SXSW is huge and it’s impossible to see and do everything, so we want you to tell us to check stuff out on your behalf. If you’re interested in a talk or an event, let us know by leaving a comment and we’ll do our best to check it out.Think of us as ‘remote control delegates’ in a way.” We suppose it’s the closest most of us will ever come to having British servants, so check ‘em out.
The Star of Texas Rodeo began yesterday and runs through March 15, filled with roping, riding, something called “mutton busting” (!), livestock exhibitions and sales and...well, all sorts of rodeo stuff, including the crowning of Miss Rodeo Austin.
If you’re arriving in town early for SXSW Interactive, there’s a move afoot to move some geeks to the fairgrounds to take in the fun, a SXSW outing to the Star of Texas Fair & Rodeo. Yee, as they say, haw!
Those geniuses at sched.org have already responded to their #1 feature request: calendaring. You can now export your sched.org schedules to iCal or Google Calendar. Note: sched.org is crawling the official SXSW.com site for updates each day, but if something changes about the event, it is dropped from your saved calendar.
Got Some Downtime? Check Out These Events During SXSW
In case you’re looking to do some exploring in Austin, there are some cool events happening in Austin that coincide with SXSW dates:
Mike Birbiglia, Michael Showalter, and Eugene Mirman at Emo’s
In case you don’t get enough of comic Eugene Mirman at the Web Awards, head over to Emo’s the following night to see him do some standup with Michael Showalter and Mike Birbiglia. You might recognize Michael Showalter from his role Wet Hot American Summer or as part of The State. Mike Birbiglia is an up and coming NYC stand-up comedian who just had a Comedy Central Presents special air last month. I’ve seen all three perform, so this show is definitely worth checking out.
Autumn de Wilde: Elliot Smith
Not only is noted musician photographer Autumn de Wilde speaking on a panel at SXSW Music, but she’s also bringing her show of Elliot Smith portraits to Austin, at the 4 Walls Fine Art Gallery. The gallery is conveniently located near the 6th street district, on East 5th Street, just off Congress. You may recognize de Wilde’s most famous image of the iconic singer-songwriter, found on the cover of Figure 8. The show runs Thursday, March 13 through March 22, with an opening reception on Thursday, March 13 from 4 to 7pm. Listen to a podcast about her work with Smith.
3rd Annual Austin Chocolate Festival
The 3rd Annual Austin Chocolate Festival benefits Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The festival will include up to 20 vendors including chocolatiers, bakeries, patisseries, restaurants, hotels, caterers, authors, and resorts. The participating vendors will offer samples to festival guests. Tickets are available online for $21.56 per day; the festival takes place from March 7 -9.
Attention iPhone owners and music fans! sxswinfo.com is the entire Music Festival showcase schedule, formatted for your iPhone. You can easily sort the schedule of artist showcases by time or venue, so you can easily answer the question “Who’s playing right now?” during the Music Festival. Each artist’s name, venue, and genre is available at a glance when you sort by time slot. Handy! sxswinfo.com was created by Jon Loyens, of thinktiv, and Bryon Jacob, of Zooven.com.
And let’s not forget that you can access the official SXSW mobile site via sxsw.mobi, which covers all three arms of SXSW, the SXSW Interactive Companion via webclips2go.com/sxsw08, and also your personalized SXSW Calendar at calendar.sxsw.com/myevents (which looks pretty good on my iPhone). Whew.
Update: Add us to the list! There’s a (somewhat beta version of) SXSW Baby! for iPhone. Get your scroll and pinch on with us, baby!
Their site, sched.org, lists all the official events, panels, bands, and films, and even all the non-official events they could get their hands on. You can add any event on their calendar to your personal calendar, or a group calendar.
