Man, it makes you wish there was a law against that sort of thing.
Oh, wait.
]]>Now Brad, I specifically asked before and after if you were up for posting this here, and you were only, what, seven beers into the night? 
And I’d also agree that the point of Fray is NOT to be the best storyteller, it is to be A storyteller, in a wonderful environment with people who appreciate those on stage. All of which Brad pulled off very nicely.
As to my turn on stage… maybe next week!
]]>Oh. Oh my. I’d rather forgotten that Ewan had a camera there. (It must have been the post-storytelling whiskey shots and Shiners wot erased my memory.)
Two things, for the record: I realized afterward I’d flubbed the date in my recollection of the story. Examining my journal afterward, I discovered my second time occurred on March 13, 1982, not March 15. I apologize deeply for so misleading my audience, particularly after chiding them into a call-and-response on the point.
Second, I was not the only and by far not the best storyteller at the event, as is the case each and every year I mount the stage. Fray Cafe is one of my very favorite SXSW-adjacent events, and I urge readers one and all to make time for it next year.
Thanks, Ewan, for your contributions to the Baby! and (I think) for sharing this video with the world. Ya rascal, ya!
]]>Ioda, the independent music marketing and distribution company, is providing the SXSW Opening Day Bash Sampler 2009 as a free MP3 download. You can find a link to the album here.
http://dealdogs.net/?p=14718
Not sure why this is getting so much attention. It’s not surprising. Cell phone usage becomes difficult whenever you have a large concentration of users in one place. It happens every year here at ACL Festival.
And it’s a non-issue at the convention center since they have free wifi. I had my iPhone there yesterday. I couldn’t get a data connection via 3G or Edge either, so I switched to the wifi network which is faster anyway. Worked just fine.
]]>Thanks for the info, Scott. Death to the small green paper form!!
]]>Just say no to small green paper evaluation forms all over the floor! Rate.sxsw.com does replace the old evaluation cards and all the data goes to SXSW and the panelists. SurveyGizmo partnered with SXSW to bring out rate.sxsw.com
Average ratings for each session are shared publicly so you can see what others thought compared to you. You can also add a widget to your blog showing the sessions you attended with average ratings. The feedback is really useful to SXSW and panelists so your opinion counts.
We offered to tie rate.sxsw.com into the my.sxsw but they passed. It’s live now, but voting doesn’t open until a session begins.
Take care,
scott
@scottmcdaniel
Thanks for the note. I’ve amended Casino El Camino’s hours (and begun drooling for burger). I’ve also had some good meals at El Sol y La Luna over the years; good news about them moving closer in.
]]>Excellent list.
Two notes:
1) Casino El Camino has extended hours for all of SXSW. They started opening at 11am yesterday and will continue to do so through Sunday, 3/22.
2) El Sol Y La Luna has moved and opened at the northeast corner of 6th Street and Red River. It’s a pretty good alternative to the (sadly) closed Las Manitas.
]]>We’ve posted the full 20! Take a peek at 20X2.org!
]]>Cool. This is my first time to sxsw. Very excited.
Seeing that the panels don’t start until 2:00 pm on Friday 3/13, should I arrive on 3/12? Or will an early flight suffice?
]]>You know, even though I posted that on my blog the secret was so horrible I forgot till I clicked through… I’m a circle BTW…
]]>That was pretty dang cute. I definitely qualify for a big red X. It’s also a really good look at the convention center and Brush Square park during SXSW.
]]>I have to admit that I feel a bit like a poseur calling it “South By”. It’s like people saying “vacay” when they mean vacation.
There’s nothing wrong with speaking in full sentences, despite what you phone-texting whippersnappers think!
]]>Awwww, what a great little bit of love for your show. Bradley, I could kiss ya! Looking forward to seeing all of you this year.
]]>There was a fire on sixth today and you guys run this instead?
]]>the blog was funny/amuzing.
im still gonna be calling it south by.
I think he’s whiney. Yes, I call it “south by” too.
It’s one of many Texan efficiencies (like “y’all” is much better than “you all") that minimizes the use of extra pesky syllables.
]]>Bruce isn’t getting his usual “last word” spot on Tuesday?
]]>We’ve just added Paul Annett from Clearleft to the line-up. Thanks for the write-up, Brad.
]]>We’re a team, kiddo. Now, get to writin’ about them thar films!
]]>D’oh! I just realized that I should have made this post. I fulfilled my duties in the forums but neglected the blog. My bad. Thanks for taking up the slack, Brad! And I will try to do better!
]]>Last year, I came down to Austin for my first time, and in a fit of wristband panic, got in line at Waterloo at 6AM on Wednesday. We were the first ones there.
The second people showed up about an hour later. Had we got there at 9AM, we would have easily been able to get wristbands. Then, later that evening, wristbands were available in large quantities at venues all over town.
With the economy the way it is, and the ease with which I was able to get cheap plane fare and a decent hotel, this year may see even less of a need to panic about wristbands. I’ll sleep in on Wednesday this year.
]]>Ah, good to know. Thanks Michael!
]]>Brad,
While the bio does strip HTML, if you insert full links in the bio section (starting with “http://www.sxswbaby.com"), it will automatically make them clickable urls.
Thanks,
Mike
]]>Hey there, my friend and I have been working on a site called Mashfest (http://www.mashfest.com) over the past year, and it contains a lot of information (schedules, lineup, videos, last.fm, calendar, show pages and comments, rumors) for many of the popular music festivals past and present. There is a page specifically for SXSW 2009 at:
http://www.mashfest.com/south-by-southwest-2009
From there, you can click on the name of any band to see more information, and flip through the list. For instance, here is the Andrew Bird show page:
http://www.mashfest.com/andrew-bird-at-south-by-southwest-2009
For festivals like Austin City Limits, the lineup looks more like a festival poster once the schedules are filled in, and there is a tab for scheduling:
http://www.mashfest.com/austin-city-limits-2008
We are working on many more features (band hometown maps, user maps, etc) and will be adding them soon. Check it out and link us! </end shameless plug>
]]>That. Is. Awesome.
]]>Covering my ears and eyes about Film this year. I only bought an Interactive badge. Though I blog mostly about film now, I just couldn’t do both Interactive and Film last year. The best I could do was to solicit screeners well in advance and write reviews before I got to Austin. Too much awesomeness to squeeze into one week! Too much!
]]>Did anyone notice that the digital filmmaking track was completely dropped from the announced 2009 panels? I think it had to do with a somewhat critical post a filmmaker put up at IndieWire.com, and as a result of retaliation the entire track got dropped. Read the full story here: http://greenscreencinema.com/article.php?story=20081016180105736
]]>I want it!
]]>Yes! (Whew!)
]]>Well, Lord knows I do my part every year to make this so. I have nothing more to add except to say that I thought the SXSW (as the only culprit mentioned by name!) website handled it pretty well
See ya in 2009!
Vic
]]>Good lord.
What’s the overhead associated with outfitting the formerly free Dillos to take money, and programming the system for a new fare model (the two-hour pass)? At 50 cents a ride, how many months will have to pass before these “improvements” pay for themselves?
Not to mention that every person who chooses to ride the Dillo rather than driving into the ever-more-congested downtown is performing a public service. They should be *paying* people to take the thing, not charging for it.
]]>In all honesty, I’m more curious to see how the new ‘clean’ design will carry over into the online schedule when it’s posted in February. To put it mildly, the official online schedule was taken to school by the unofficial (but infinitely more useful) SCHED.org.
In other registration news, badge prices have gone up again, but the increase isn’t as dramatic as last year - but have you checked out the hotel rates? Most of the walking-distance hotels seem to have gone up by at least $20/night during IA.
Engage wild speculation mode...with IA getting larger every year, are the walking-distance hotels unable to book secondary conferences alongside IA like they used to? (The Hilton, for example, hosted some sort of all-hands meeting for Whole Foods in 2008, and a publisher’s conference in 2007.) Are we now paying a premium for SXSW having to reserve more of the hotel in advance?
]]>This is sad, very sad. I’ve eaten here almost every SXSW I’ve been to, from the first time I met Kevin Smokler in 2002 (we had lunch with Lane Becker and a few others) to this past March’s sixth triumphant Kreate Kookies with Kevin SXSW-closing dinner. We’ll need to find another place with such great food.
]]>I’m not really sure Austin needs another “interior Mexican restaurant with a full-service bar and lounge.”
But, yeah, that part of downtown is certainly changing fast. I guess the high-rise condo types like their interior Mexican food coupled with a full-service bar and lounge.
I went to SXSW events from Wednesday night to Saturday night, and the only problems I had were caused by SXSW mismanagement. For instance, at the Scoot Inn on Thursday night, the venue wasn’t allowed to permit anyone in despite the fact it was at less than half-capacity (and was very much so for the entire night) simply because SXSW said so. I still got in, though. Something similar at Emo’s happenned, although it wasn’t nearly as bad as Thursday night. Friday and Saturday night, I followed A Place to Bury Strangers (very good band, BTW, and apparently really hot in indie circles) at both the Wave Rooftop and the Cedar Creek Courtyard respectively, and I had no problem getting in either night. So, I guess the powers-that-be at SXSW got their heads out of their rectal orifices by Friday night. All in all, excluding alcohol and band T-shirts, I spent a whopping $30 for four nights.
I guess the AAS’s intern was going to the wrong shows. Otherwise, the title should read, “No Badge, No Problem? No, Really!”
I still remember seeing the Bravery in 2007 at Stubb’s for $5 because they were so far under capacity.
]]>I didn’t have a badge or wristband and I didn’t have a single problem getting into shows. In fact I only spent $23 on shows for 2 days. I was afraid when I got there I would have problems, but it was nothing like people have said.
]]>Although it’s not free, don’t forget about the Austin Star Map. The map has directions for both a walking and a driving tour. Austin has a ton of celebrities.
]]>Here is a great guide for those of you attending SXSW. It is called “Inside Austin’s Hot Spots” and it was made by a SXSW Interactive finalist= MindBites.com. Check out this video that is free and can be downloaded to your portable device. Enjoy!
]]>It would be nice, in the future, if organizers take into account that some members attending (in my case, I was a panelist) may have mobility issues.
My husband had wanted to attend, but bowed out at the last second. He could not find any handicapped parking in the area. His mobility issues are greater than mine, and as I had great difficulty navigating the ACC, it would have been impossible for him.
It took me 40min to walk - 20 each way - (with a cane) from the Trinity & 4th entrance to the Trinity and Cesar Chavez corner and back (with several trips on escalators, and elevators - which were pointed out to me when I asked - that left me stranded in areas that necessitated my climbing flights of stairs - ie the Rotunda). I had to rest by leaning against walls and pillars (most areas had no seating). Though dozens of volunteers passed me by, no one asked if I needed help. In fact, I seemed to be a source of amusement to some as they walked by, glancing at me from the corners of their eyes and giggling.
I understand it’s a huge venue and that the ACC is a very large place. But please, do keep in mind that not all attendees are young or in the best of health, and try to accomodate us a bit in the future. It put a damper on what was, otherwise, an amazing day.
Thank you!
Pat
]]>Nice list. But the best food in downtown Austin has always been on the east side. So you could wait in line with the SXSW tourists for mediocre bbq at Stubb’s and Ironworks or you could walk a little bit further to Longbranch bbq at 900 E 11th street. A cheap cab ride could get you to Sam’s bbq at 2000 E 12th street, take your time they’re open late. You’d also be foolish to miss the opportunity to eat breakfast at Cisco’s at 1511 E 6th street, some of the best migas in town are at this 50+ year old diner. Going slightly off the beaten path will prove rewarding at these places, you might even get to see some locals.
]]>The real story behind SXSW
The real story you should be telling about SXSW is how all the great local blues bands (Alan Haynes, Joe Richardson, The Texcellorators) pack the clubs with blues fans from all over the world, keeping the clubs on 6th street open and solvent during the rest of the year, and then when the biggest music festival in the world comes to town, they are swept under the rug.
It wouldn’t be quite so bad if any of the sound-a-like/look-a-like indie-rock bands could actually play something original or inspiring.
]]>Consider BEANO. The bars start getting nasty after 4000 people have been on the beer-burrito-bbq diet for a couple of days. That’s when I start to miss the stale stench of cigarette smoke…
]]>Note to visitors: Skip the shiner as its available in 22 states outside of Texas. Instead opt for the locally brewed Live Oak or Independence breweries products. Both are based in Austin and are available all over downtown, even at the Alamo Drafthouse for Film fest attendees. Also consider the regionally brewed Real Ale (Blanco TX), which is also available all over downtown.
Get the flavor of Austin!
]]>My flight tomorrow morning through Cincinnati was canceled earlier today. Looks like a significant amount of flights may be canceled for people traveling from the east coast. Delta has posted info at http://www.delta.com/traveling_checkin/flight_status_updates/advisories/ohio_valley/index.jsp .
]]>My wife was returning home to Austin today following a business trip and her connecting flight out of DFW sat on the tarmac for a total of 6 hours (with a 30-minute “food break’). Eventually she deplaned and drove home with some folks she met on the plane (most rental cars at the airport were gone, so ride sharing was apparently common). Fun fun!
]]>Hey!
Here is my Pre-SXSW advice for Cheap F#cks. Check it out! http://godonnybrook.com/home/?p=491
I’ve seen conflicting information as to when badgeholders can start buying wristbands. First it was Friday, then it was Sunday. This was all on the Facebook page.
The person receiving the wristband must be there. There will be a separate batch for Film/IA and Music. You must have picked up your badge already. The price will be $180 each.
]]>i could have overlooked this.... but is there any word as to what the wristband price is for people who have a music badge and are buying an extra one? and does that person need to be with me when i get my badge?
]]>Don’t forget about the Cedar Door! It’s on 2nd and Brazos only a few blocks from the Convention Center. Plus you can get an Original Mexican Martini to wash it all down. Can’t go wrong with that.
http://www.cedardooraustin.com/
Great list, I just have one more to add. Texas Picnic co. They are on 6th and Sabine, right up from the convention center. They have really good sandwiches and espressos. They have indoor and outdoor seating. This place is good for a quick bite that is close to everything!
]]>After coming to Austin for many years, I finally made it to “Meat Church” as my friends call it. Smitty’s was just an unbelievable experience and I highly recommend getting away for the couple of hours it will take out of your day.
We had brisket, ribs and sausage, served on a brown piece of paper with a plastic fork and knife and I walked out of there barely able to breath. The sides are great, but I’d suggest not even bothering getting anything in the way of the meatfest-o-ramathon.
CB
]]>Great video. Of course, any opportunity to see the adorable Shawn O’Keefe is just fine by me.
]]>Check, Check, Check, Eh?, Check, Na, Check (Woulda forgotten that...), Check. Thanks for taking the time to make this list.
]]>Monster makes a fantastic travel power bar. It weighs almost nothing, and takes up a minimal amount of space in your laptop bag.
]]>If you guys are interested, you could come out and watch the Inaugural Division of the National Karaoke League any Wednesday during SXSW. It’s the first competitive, team-based league of its kind, and we compete every Wednesday from 8-10 at the Bennigan’s Grill and Tavern on Barton Springs Rd. (which is just over the Congress Street Bridge from downtown) Everyone in the bar during league play receives a ballot and determines the winners of each round.
After 10 pm, it’s general karaoke for everyone, and there are great drink specials--$2 domestics, $2 margaritas, $2 long islands, and $2 cosmopolitans.
Hope some of you come out to watch!
]]>OK, but why was the official PalmOS version of the conference/film schedule done away with? That was a godsend, because it provided all of the information from the pocket guide (with panel descriptions!), but with the added benefit of being updatable by the SXSW powers-that-be…
]]>Thanks! I’ll update the post.
]]>There is a pdf available on the Austin Chronicle website (austinchronicle.com) of this week’s issue. Look for the pages for the Interactive and Film pull out section. It has the film grid and the entire music schedule.
]]>Brad - Thanks for posting our video! Looking forward to seeing everyone again in a few days and hoping to get many of you on camera. 
Todd
==
Producer
DailyIdea.TV
Heh. Of course it is. I’ve corrected the post. And checked my Visa statement, just to be sure.
Surely it’s $95 million, not billion? I know hotel prices aren’t what they used to be, but...!
]]>See the SMS schedule service in action:
]]>You can also get SxSW panel (both film and interactive) and film schedule info on demand by SMS.
See http://qurl.com/f4n8f for instructions.
]]>My new favorite Twitter tip:
]]>Man, I am routinely bitter that Flatstock doesn’t open earlier. I think they’d do well to open while Interactive and Film are still in town—we like posters too!
]]>It looks as though Twitter is taking steps to shore up for SXSW.
]]>I think AT & T crashes before Twitter. Should we start a pool?
]]>The next Twitter will be...talking to each other, after Twitter goes down during SXSWi, nobody can get onto the ACC wireless, and the spontaneous combustion of AT & T’s network.
]]>I am underwhelmed and, frankly, I’m not sure what the video component usefully brings to it. I’m not going to be watching music videos or archived panels (is that in the plan?) while I’m sitting among live humans in a live panel. IRC (especially at the Bloggies ) and Twitter will be the backchannel for me.
Am I the only one who thinks that Meebo as a backchannel chat room will just bog down the ACC wireless routers? Personally, I’d rather just use IRC.
]]>Nice! I was just about to email you and Brad that the site was ready, but it looks like you beat me to it by 12 hours
Thanks kathryn for mentioning webclip2go! I just want to note that you can read SXSW Baby! right on your phone via
See you guys at the show!
cheers
Michael
“Downtime”? See, I sort of know what that word means, but I’ve seldom associated it with Austin in March. Hrm…
]]>Although, golly, I wish that feed was fulltext.
Suh-weet. Thanks, Austinist! I KISS YOU!
]]>Thanks,
We’ve got a dev blog at:
if you want to leave feature suggestions or report bugs.
]]>You should be able to grab an RSS feed by subscribing to this in your RSS reader:
]]>This is awesome!
]]>I made Yahoo! Pipe of their main feed, searching for “sxsw” or “south by southwest” but I’m not sure how quickly the Pipe updates.
]]>I enthusiastically second Casino El Camino. The burgers there are the among the best things I’ve ever put in my mouth (shut up!), and the patio is a great retreat if you can get a table.
]]>Interesting - the Gametap party is in direct conflict/competition with 16Bit. Hmm.
]]>I would just like to add two places:
The Onion at 116 W 5th St. It is the BEST pizza downtown. They sell by the slice and are open late.
Polvo’s at 2004 S 1st St. This isn’t downtown, but it is worth the trek. My favorite mexican food in Austin and they have great margaritas. Also a great outdoor patio. Last year at SXSW immediately after I saw Amy Winehouse perform at the Levi’s Fader Fort I got to eat next to her at Polvo’s!
]]>Wow, great list, Kathryn!
]]>This is amazing! The only thing that I can add to this is that yelp in Austin is very active - so you can find a lot of info, reviews, vocal suggestions there:
]]>I believe they’re trying to get more Music registrants into town on Tuesday—for example, on that day, people with Music badges can go to any SXSW Film Fest screenings in the Convention Center.
]]>According to the SXSW site, it’s open to Film, Gold and Platinum badgeholders. But Tuesday’s Conversation with Moby is said to be open to Film and Music registrants.
Anyone know the real scoop?
]]>I couldn’t find the donewaiting post, but is this open to film and music badge/wristband holders? Or just film badges?
]]>Here’s an important heads-up for any Verizon Wireless subscribers who plan to use Twitter via TXT at SXSW…
VZW’s text messaging doesn’t seem to care much for the “@” symbol, which is used by Twitter to direct a public conversation to a particular user. If you receive a tweet containing an “@username”, you won’t see any text beyond (and including) the “@”. According to Twitter’s support forums, this is a known issue, and since it’s on VZW’s side, there’s not much they can do about it. (Some forum users are reporting this problem on other carriers as well, but from the looks of it, it’s only documented on VZW.)
After some experimentation, I’ve found a workaround that seems to work pretty well on my Treo: I’ve set up a dedicated Jabber account (Gtalk will work just as well, but I wanted to isolate Twitter from my normal IM functions) and set up Twitter IM to use that account. Over on my Treo, I downloaded Chatopus, a multi-service IM client which can run in the background...and has a 30 day free trial. After one day, the setup seems to work pretty well - my only major concern is battery life on my Treo (since Chatopus holds a data connection open, it may run the battery down abnormally fast), but since I’m traveling on business this weekend, I’m going to try to do some more testing, although one obvious point would be to close down the mobile connection when the laptop is open.
Another obvious alternative is to pull in tweets by text, and throttle over to m.twitter.com if there’s a tweet that doesn’t come through, but...that’s inelegant at best.
]]>I agree—it’s all about the pocket guide and having your SXSW Calendar available on your PDA/phone/etc.
]]>Maybe they weren’t invited to anything else.