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SXSW
Friday, March 26, 2010
When I think of SXSW I don't think about music
Posted by Stephen Hammill on Fri, Mar 26, 2010 at 6:30 PM
When you think of SXSW, what first pops into your head? The amazing and eclectic music? Not for me. And I played the damn thing four years ago with my own band. No, for me, Austin's yearly open-house to the world is about one thing above all: tech.
Austin's South by Southwest dates back to 1987; back then it was mostly a regional music showcase. In 1994, they added film and interactive conferences to the bill. It took about another 10 years for SXSW Interactive to catch the media's attention. It was at the 2007 conference when Evan Williams debuted his new social networking service, called Twitter, and nothing was ever the same. A year later, the service exploded at the conference and it was then only a matter of time before Oprah started using it.
Tech media is growing by leaps and bounds and SXSW has become its mecca, a place to get aquanted with the things the rest of the world may not use or see for another couple of years -- a nerd cystal ball, if you will. For Creative Loafing, it's become a must-attend event. So what did we get out of it? Location, location, location.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
SXSW 2010 Music Coverage (Updated with Photos and Video)
Posted by Joran Oppelt on Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 2:10 PM
On Wednesday, March 17, the Interactive portion of the 2010 South By Southwest Conference gave way to the Music portion of the festival. And we were there. Suddenly, the nerds in ironic Firefox t-shirts had been replaced by hipsters in tight jeans. The Macbooks had been replaced by guitar cases. And the party carried on. Here is our coverage of the shows and after-parties, witnessed on the ground by Joran Oppelt, Bryan Childs (Autopsy IV) and photographer Shanna Gillette.
(Scroll to bottom of post to see more pics and video).
DAY FIVE - Sunday, March 21
DAY FOUR - Saturday, March 20
@joranslane reporting:
Flatstock, the traveling concert poster exhibit put on by the American Poster Institute, always makes an annual stop at SXSW and never fails to amaze. 2010 was no exception, including artists like Mexican Chocolate, Chuck Sperry and Anville. However, this year the Austin Record Convention, which is usually cordoned off in an entirely separate room, took up half of the exhibit hall, making for a pretty dizzying experience. Browsers could take a break from the art and browse through tons of vinyl, CDs and music memorabilia. Talk about getting chocolate in your peanut butter.
This being my last night in town, I decided not to follow the crowds and just see what new music I could discover. I stopped in over at Cuba Libre to check out The Knew (Denver, CO) at the Red Gorilla Showcase and when I arrived, Alexa Carter was on stage. While only a couple of the heavy, guitar-driven pop songs were anything special, she definitely sang her ass off. Imagine if Avril Lavigne had balls and was from New York, you'd have Alexa. I stepped out into the alley to have a smoke, and as the band packed their gear onto the tour bus - and I do mean tour bus (the sound man told me it was Tracy Byrd's old bus) - Alexa's manager was on his Bluetooth. In the most professional way, he was complaining to "someone" that "someone else" hadn't made it out to the showcase, that they weren't happy with the size and location of the venue, that the band was disappointed, and other things managers have to say. It's moments like this that I sure don't miss the music business.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Tampa bands and shows hosted by locals at SXSW in Austin this week
Posted by Leilani Polk on Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 11:55 AM
This year, the Bay area makes its presence known in Austin with a variety of official (and not-so-official) SXSW events featuring and/or thrown by locals. The festivities kick into high gear tomorrow. Here's a breakdown for those of you who have made the trek out west. Special thanks to BAAMO for their helpful guide.
Nervous Turkey's heavy-stompin' blues and funk kicks off an official set at 8 p.m. Wed., March 17, Cedar Door, 201 Brazos St. (ages 18+). 6 p.m. Fri., March 19, 604 E. 6th St., 2nd floor upstairs from Emo’s. of their to find out more about the CL Best of the Bay winners and blues funk trio, click here to read last week's feature. ; and
6 p.m., American Aquarium (Raleigh)
7 p.m., Austin Lucas (Bloomington)
8 p.m., Kasey Anderson (Portland)
9 p.m., Glossary (Murfreesboro)
10 p.m., Joe Pug (Chicago) [pictured]
The Beauvilles, another CL Best of the Bay winner, brings their rockin' and rollin' to an official showcase at 9 p.m. Wed., March 17, Barbarella, 615 Red River St. (ages 21 & up); they also perform a set at a party hosted by Herman the German at 4 p.m. Thurs., March 18, at the Rockin’ Tomato, 3003 S. Lamar Blvd. Click here to check out The Beauvilles' CL Sessions video podcast from last March.
Alt prog rock five-piece Tides of Man plays two official showcases: one set at midnight Wed., March 17, at Emo's Annex, 600 Red River St. (all ages); and the other at 11:15 p.m. Thurs., March 18, at Emo's Jr., 603 Red River St. (all ages).
Saturday, March 13, 2010
SXSW 2010 Interactive diary (with photos, video)
Posted by Stephen Hammill on Sat, Mar 13, 2010 at 10:44 AM
Greetings and welcome from Austin, Texas, home to the annual South By Southwest Music, Film & Interactive conference. I'm hitting up a bunch of Interactive panels, all dealing with social media and journalism in the era of new media --the past, present and future of the Internet. Here's coverage of the six days of geekdom (scroll to bottom of post to see more pics and live video):
DAY 5 - Tuesday, March 16:
Here's out live video feed from Austin. Stay tuned for updates:
It's the day of our panel discussion, Web-First Publishing: How Alt Weeklies Can Survive, and we're prepping some slides. We plan to live broadcast the video feed right here at 6:00 p.m. EST, so stay tuned. If there's a glitch, we'll throw the video up after we talk.
Last night the rains came to Texas which only seemed to force the already teeming mass of techies indoors and into the many tiny bars and clubs that line 6th St. One of them, La Zona Rosa, played host to fellow "alt-weekly" Austin Chronicle and their annual Film Bash, complete with 30-piece funk band.
DAY 4 - Monday, March 15:
Thursday, March 4, 2010
ninebullets.net throws a St. Paddy's Day SXSW party in Austin (with audio)
Posted by autopsy4 on Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 11:00 AM
Local blog, ninebullets.net, is throwing a party out in Austin for SXSW. So, if your musical tastes tend to lean towards the alt country, then this might be a perfect way for you to kick off your weekend.
On Wedneday, March 17 at Opa! (2050 S. Lamar Blvd.), ninebullets.net will host its first-ever SxSW Party featuring American Aquarium (6 p.m.), Austin Lucas (7 p.m.), Kasey Anderson (8 p.m.), Glossary (9 p.m.) and Joe Pug (10 p.m.).
All props go to Kasey for setting this up. I hope to see/meet some of y'all there. I am sure it'll be a good time.
Check out MP3's by all the performers after the jump.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
New Granada Records gets an official SXSW showcase; Nervous Turkey, too!
Posted by Leilani Polk on Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 10:58 AM
After I heard the exciting news that Bay area label New Granada Records (which just celebrated its 15th anniversary) got an official showcase at this year’s SXSW festival, I called chief-in-charge Keith Ulrey to get the juicy details. “It was basically just handed to us,” Ulrey said, sounding thrilled. And he didn’t have to go through the rigorous application process or pay any of the app fees. “For me to be handed this platform, a free coupon ... I’m still a little stunned.”
The series of auspicious events that led New Granada to their current official status were engineered in large part by Josie Fluri. Last year, the bassist/vocalist of Austin-based New Roman Times was working as a bartender at the Ginger Man and had persuaded her boss at the pub to host an unoffical SXSW party that featured her own modern rock outfit supported by a handful of bands from her label — New Granada. The show also served as the last hoorah at the Ginger Man before it moved to a building around the corner. But by the time the pub settled into its new digs, the city had registered its old digs as historic and decided not to tear it down. So the space was re-vamped, the Ginger Man’s sister bar, The Ghost Room, was born, and Fluri was brought on as the venue’s manager-booker.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Quincy Jones remembers his first encounter with Michael Jackson (with video)
Posted by Joe Bardi on Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 11:08 AM
Ed. Note: What follows is a repost of an item by CL Marketing Director Joran Oppelt from his recent trip to SXSW. At the time, I thought it was just a really cool video. Today I think it's become something more. You can see Joran's original post here.
Quincy recalls his first encounters with Michael Jackson and their work on the best-selling records Off the Wall and Thriller, as well as the birth of MTV and how they broke through the "no black artists" mandate.
This exclusive CL TV video was shot in March at Jones' 2009 South by Southwest keynote address. Check out the Quincy Jones video by clicking here.
