Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2010 > March > 19 > Entry
SXSW 34: Via Downtown
In reporting on the rapid expansion of traffic during SXSW Interactive and Film, I by no means want to suggest that SXSW Music has been superseded. Not with 1,900 official showcases, and those acts playing multiple additional gigs, and all the other bands tacking on their quickie concerts. That could mean 6,000 or so discreet sets of music.
One could feel the magnetic pull in each direction crossing through downtown, first northeast, then southwest on Thursday. People on the margins of the grid shimmered with energy. They strode toward events with a bounce in their steps. Their stage make-up and rocker outfits looked fresh. They gabbled tirelessly.
Cathy Wallace, Brandi Hale, Debbie Barrera and Catherine Daniels
Returning from East Austin, I noticed more hobbled fans taking pedicabs. (Did we import some for the weekend? Seems like they swarmed every street.) By the time I hit the blockaded Sixth Street west of Interstate 35, the masses resembled the disintegrating remains of a summer street fair. Exhausted folks lined the curbs. Faces faded pink-gray. Incompletely consumed street food joined the other detritus.
Lines into official SXSW venues crinkled, crackled with complaints. Meanwhile, other clubs simply blasted out their usual sounds. I even saw some completely new clubs: Just for SX?
Syztem 7 from Seattle
On Congress, visitors and locals spilled off the wide sidewalks. Still, the weather blessed this Thursday with a sort of glorious glow. Boulevardiers staked out their regular spots at sidewalk cafes and just watched the world go by …
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