This year one of our trade shows actually overlapped South by Southwest, so when we arrived home the festivities were already in full swing. Once again I'm utterly unprepared to see anyone at SXSW, so I did what I've done for four years straight--I just drove down to Sixth Street, parked my car in a public garage and started soaking it all in. This year Colleen and I were joined by Steve Lefkowicz, a reviewer for Positive Feedback Online who just happened to be in town. The three of us were scheduled to see Charlotte Church and her band but we arrived late and saw this UK band instead. Not bad, but loud. This photo underlines the fact that at SXSW, you can accidentally walk through a door and wind up backstage.
The point about SXSW is that music is everywhere. My first year I saw a band playing a gig on someone's front lawn in a residential neighborhood off Congress Ave. If you walk down legendary Sixth Street, you'll see plenty of lone drummers, lone guitarists, lone hammered dulcimer players, whatever.
While the majority of bands performing outside of the main venues are metal and hardcore, you will occasionally see something different. These guys were the highlight of the evening; they played whatever came to mind.
But of course the noise in the street was so loud that they had to jump up on trash cans in order to be heard.
Only on Sixth Street can you see two women practicing yoga...in the middle of an intersection.
"Sure, dude, I'll listen to your mix CD as soon as I get home."
I'm headed back out Saturday to hang with Perfect Sound Forever editors Jason Gross and Robin Cook, so there might be more crappy cell phone pics to come. Where is the Part-Time Audiophile and his wonderful photographs when you need him?
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