Going South By Southwest

Friday marks the beginning of the annual 2 week long music, film, and technology festival in Austin, TX - South By Southwest. Mr. Fonty has been going every year since 2005, and this will mark my sixth year as a tag along. The music portion kicks off next Tuesday, but this nearly 30 year old body can't handle that many days in Austin, so I will be joining the fun on Thursday, March 15.

The term "festival" doesn't accurately describe what SXSW really is. Every restaurant, bar, and grassy knoll large enough to hold an amp turns into a make-shift music venue, and there is live music oozing from every orifice of the city from dawn until well into the dawn of the next day. It is an exhausting week of activity, and I can't wait to get to the mayhem.
South By, historically, was a place for unsigned bands to create buzz and get noticed by industry folks. As the event has grown, and with the rise of music bloggers and everyone with a computer having a voice, the buzz starts humming about bands well before their vans hit the Travis County line.

Barton Springs
One of my most favorite places

Because the buzz on bands builds so early - and the pop-up venues are so small, you can't go to South By with your heart set on seeing any one show. Each year, I create an exhaustive list with about 6 shows at any given half hour. This way, no matter where I am in town, I will always have a show to see. Neurotic? Completely. Useful and used by everyone I know in Austin? You know it.

If you're going to SXSW, let me know who you're excited to see. Here is my UNOFFICIAL schedule and my OFFICIAL schedule. I'll have my top picks for South By in the coming days. I'm devoting this week to all things music - since it was music that brought me to my Fonty in the first place!