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Sunday, March 21, 2010
SXSW 40: It’s a wrap
The final South by Southwest social tally: Number of parties: 41. Miles on foot: 53. Miles by cab: 5. Conversations: More than 350. Movies seen: 0. Bands heard: Maybe 15.
Speakers and panels witnessed: None, unless you count the speed-mentoring round I participated in for film industry bloggers.
Conclusion: My best SXSW ever.
Also, I traveled on foot. If you got into a car, or lived or worked near a cluster of festival venues, your experience was probably more stressful.
It helped that, except for two widely separated days of rain and cold, the weather remained Edenic. Plus, I simply avoided events with really long lines, knowing that, once inside an at-capacity room, I’d be knee-to-throat with unhappy socializers. And there were plenty of those.
Part of the blame for those bash-ups falls to the festival planners. One shouldn’t offer entry to every Interactive badge holder for an event held at the mid-sized Mohawk club, or to any Film fester at Speakeasy’s lovely but limited rooftop terrace. It just doesn’t work.
On the other hand, nobody is entitled to party. And I mean nobody. Including your social columnist.
I would no more insist on entering a prime event, such as Swagg Presents Perez Hilton’s One Night in Austin, than stiff-arm a old lady with a walker. (Luckily, at that party, an alert organizer saw me from a distance, and slipped me into the cavernous warehouse so I could report on it for this publication’s Monday wrap-up story. I didn’t demand entry, mind you, and I left as soon as my social reporting was complete, missing the Snoop Dogg and Hole performances.)
In the past, SXSW leaders tried to suppress side-parties, concerts and mini-fests, especially those employing variations on their trademarked name. Now, unofficial events operate as a kind of social safety valve. People, especially locals, let off steam in East Austin, along South Congress and South Lamar Boulevard, in every available parking lot within the the downtown grid.
And that should be fine, because SXSW, though still a for-profit venture, now belongs to the whole city. And an enormous part of the city wants to celebrate this essential component of Austin culture.
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SXSW 39: Swagg Presents Perez Hilton’s One Night in Austin
A-List photos: Perez Hilton’s One Night in Austin
Hoping to bask in the reflected glow of the returning celebrity gossip blogger, guests braved icy blasts hours before the doors opened on Swagg Presents Perez Hilton’s One Night in Austin.
Emily Grace and Hector Martelle
In what has become a must-do SXSW social event, the party spilled over three cavernous rooms in a former warehouse at Third and Brazos streets. Still, despite the interior space, which included several nested VIP zones, some were left in the cold when the party reached capacity after 10 p.m.
Samantha Davidson and Laura Aiden
Earlier in the evening, guests reported some pushing and shoving in the lines that wrapped around three streets and an alley, hoping to see, for free, such acts as Snoop Dogg and Hole.
“I don’t want to die in line!” mocked Austin model Laura Aiden, who was admitted into the party.
Danny Witte and Hawa Amani
Among the notables noted in the crowd: filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, members of the Canadian rock band Sum 41, electro-pop singer-songwriter Little Boots, Blues Traveler frontman John Popper, and Ryan Ross, who left Panic at the Disco last year.
Kate Tomich and Juan V. Perez
Musical acts played shorts sets on two stages inside the innermost cavern, as specialty drinks and photography stations dotted the other rooms. Guests wore solidly-constructed dark glasses that made projected images pop into 3D.
“This is the party where I see all of Austin,” said Chris Apollo Lynn, editor of the Republic of Austin social media site.
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