Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2010 > March > 16
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
SXSW 19: Rain Break
Sometimes, Mother Nature tells you to “stop.”
I had seriously considered hitting three more SXSW parties — Gowalla at the Belmont, Plutopia at MACC and Good Capitalist at Youthworks — but they were primarily outdoors. I’m sure the guests found a way to cope. They always do.
But I needed the time off anyway. So far: 24 parties, 26 miles on foot, 3 miles by cab, more than 200 people engaged in conversation. I revel in all this socializing, believe me, but this 55-year-old body just can’t order everything on the menu.
(True story: Last yesterday, I learned from Kip that I’m 55. I thought I was 56. Math was not my best subject. Which may be why I’m so obsessed with numbers.)
I still have 5 parties — Ray Benson Birthday Party, Belmont Film Festival, British Embassy at Latitude 30, Media Temple Closing Party at Mohawk and the Parish Party — on my event list for tonight.
After that, 5 more full days to go during SXSW. Don’t worry. I’ve followed all the rules. Rest. Hydrate. Eat. Moderate. Exercise. And I’m still having fun.
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SXSW 18: Locals Only Party at Star Bar
Overheard on the deck of Star Bar: “This is the cool kids’ party.” Indeed, it felt that way. While the visiting throngs headed to the Gowalla party at the Belmont, Thrillist party at Stubb’s, or always thrilling Plutopia at the MACC, a few dozen entertainment-oriented Austinites relaxed over delicious drinks at the annual Locals Only Party, thrown in part by Giant Noise.
David Kittredge and Ginger Roddick
Right away, I ran into Ginger Roddick, former publicist for brother-in-law Andy Roddick. She’s now living in Norman, Okla., where her husband, John Roddick, is head of men’s tennis at the University of Oklahoma. She confirmed that Andy’s bride, Brooklyn Decker, is very grounded and just the right gal for the tennis ace’s future.
Taylor Choi and Lyle Jackson
Any number of journalists, promoters, publicists, administrators, activists, networkers and creatives continued to mingle in the blank-ish spot between SXSW Interactive and Film and the subsequent SXSW Music. Rumors raced through the synod. All agreed that the festival’s younger siblings were showing Music how it’s done this year.
Matt Dy and David Gil
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SXSW 17: Food Bloggers Bash at the Cedar Door
What’s the tweetiest community in Austin? High tech? Politics? Music? Movies? I’d put my bets on the food nation. I see more activity on Twitter, more foodie blogs, more Yelp reviews, you name it, about restaurants, food trailers, gardening, recipes and sustainable cooking and eating than any other general topic.
Peter Tsai and Kristina Vallejo
Which reminds me of the focus groups we conducted in 1994 for the launch of the XL weekly entertainment magazine. The No. 1 entertainment choice for Austinites? Going out to eat. Hasn’t changed since then.
Vivian Chang and David Park
The Food Bloggers Bash at Cedar Door, timed to SXSW Interactive, saluted the networkers and thinkers in the field. (Merrily, there was more food in the back room than during the Texas Social Media Awards the night before.) Even though I rarely post here on food, my husband Kip and I are avid cooks and devout fans of Austin’s restaurant community.
So these, to some extent, are my people. Loved hanging out with them and Statesman foodie cicerone Addie Broyles.
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SXSW 16: AGLIFF’s Steers & Queers at Frank
Leaning over the rail at the upstairs bar of Frank on Colorado Street, I flashed to 25 years ago. That’s when the long, tall, narrow building was home to the Boathouse, then Austin’s premiere gay club. Near to where I now smiled at diners below, I had scanned the dance floor for my friends on particularly populated nights.
Susan Linn Ferris and Jake Gonzales
But this gathering belong to the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival, which was welcoming guests to SXSW Film. The Steers & Queers Party assumed a jaunty Western flavor, without overplaying the theme. At the instigation of director Skot Tulk, filmmakers addressed the assembled, who could barely squeeze into the two-part upstairs space.
Maya Perez, Alissa Ziemianski, Rachel Hartsfield
I spent a bit of time with AGLIFF program director Jake Gonzales and Susan Linn Ferris, administrative director at California’s Outfest. I caught up some with Spec’s guru Carter Wilsford and his housemate Ian Carrico. Other creatives, like Maya Perez, exchanged words with me, but for the most part, it was about the SXSW movies.
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SXSW 15: A Flash of Color for the Invisible Man
I am the Invisible Man. That’s part of my social strategy. Play it against the wall. Greet. Listen. Ask questions. Divert. Tell stories at the appropriate junctures. Never call attention oneself. This is not the only — or even the most common — strategy for social columnists, but it works for me. People tell me things. For the most part, they trust me to use that information judiciously.
Heading to Jo’s on Second to post more on SXSW, drinking in the crowds and the good spirits on the street, I made a left turn into Kappie Bliss’s Beyond Tradition. I’ve always liked Kappie. She’s fashionable without being outrageous. She supports local artists and designers. She’s kind and — let’s just say it — closer to my age than the dominant style-makers in Austin.
I had my eye on some of My-Cherie Haley’s marvelously crinkly, light, highly hued scarves. They fit men or women. But could I pull them off? With confidence? I purchased one of the least peacocky ones ($50 for the long, very dark blue sample shown here). Two SXSW parties later, I begged inherently poised Christine Perrault Moline to style it for me in a couple of loops around my neck. There it rested for the remainder of the evening. Maybe for the remaining SXSW night parties.
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SXSW 14: Man on a Mission After-Party at the Marq
For somebody who began his adulthood behind the scenes, learning technology and building games, Richard Garriott has become accustomed to the limelight. For years, he has staged some of the most notorious parties in Austin — notorious for their sweet eccentricities, not bacchanalian excesses, by the way. And he has publicly backed the arts and sciences, particularly Zach Theatre and the nascent Austin Planetarium.
Nicole Whiteside, Lindsey Taylor and Stanley Roy Williamson of Tiny Stolen Moments
But once he spent some of those gaming dollars to train for a Russian space mission, Garriott’s public star, so to speak, has risen ever farther. Son of an astronaut himself, Garriott and his space flight was the subject of a documentary, “Man on a Mission,” which premiered at SXSW.
Steve Brudniak, Catarina Sigerfoos and Kevin Kettler
His After-Party staked out the Marq and Prague, two floors of the four-level bar complex at West Fifth Street and Congress Avenue. It was a pretty frisky affair with paid dancers on tiny trampolines and a space chair (don’t know what else to call it). I spent time with several prominent creative types, including sculptor Steve Brudniak (Garriott owns some of his pieces) and Austinist co-founder and sly conversationalist Ben Brown.
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SXSW 13: Tech Cocktail at the Palm Door
SXSW head honcho Roland Swenson said something wise to me during the Microsoft BizSpark and Volusion Tech Cocktail at the Palm Door. Speaking about social events during SXSW Interactive, Swenson pointed out that guests really talked to each other, in contrast to SXSW Music, when it’s “party, party, party.”
Matt Curtin and Chris Valentine
Indeed, besides the distractions of conversation-killing music and hipster posing, the 700 or so sideparties during SXSW Music are partly about getting trashed. (“Rebel, rebel, your face is a mess.) In contrast, over the past six days of the SXSW Interactive and Film portions, I’ve noticed maybe one or two folks had overdone, and then only pleasantly enhanced.
Roland Swenson and David Fox
This Cocktail Tech also did not attract those annoying sidewalk queues, meaning the venue was properly sized to the event. Just walk right in — and start conversing. Many of the folks I encountered here, I had already met at the convention center or attendant events. So no big revelations. (Other than how mellow Swenson could be mid-fest, and that Chris Valentine had turned from dance to tech — ran into him with SocialSmack co-founder and CEO Matt Curtin).
Gosh, I wish there were more events like this during the rest of the year.
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