(no subject)
Okay....home again, home again, jiggety jog...I left Beaumont to a lovely sunset and at the Kirkwood exit, off of I-10 in Houston, it was suddenly *pouring-frigging-rain*. Welcome to 'life in the tropics'. Drizzled the rest of the way home. Oklahoma State University has made it to The Final Four in college basketball - that's where Steve and majority of Boughton siblings went to college - and making it that far *is* a big deal. The boys were deep into the game, when I got in...OSU won by 2 points in the last 6 seconds of the game, or something heart-stopping like that. I don't know for sure, but there was a LOT of shouting and leaping around going on upstairs.:)
I am not sure how you'd exactly go about explaining South By Southwest to someone who hasn't attended before. Practically speaking, I learned (via Emma) that a warning about the fact that there is *no* sitting the entire time would be of great help. We actually sat down more this year than I think we ever have before....at gigs, I mean. Mainly, it's standing around for hours on end, on cement floors. (Oh, my aching *back*!) However......aside from the practical is the much more important issue of....what can I call it?...emotion?...intensity?...accessibility?.... professionalism?
That might be something to think about....for me, I mean....I'm always just thinking about stuff, for no particular reason. A music festival is one thing. SXSW gives the appearance of *being* a music festival but....it's not. Not at all, really. There are all ages of attendees, so it's not an age thing.....but it's also definitely not a 'kid' sort of thing, either...not just your standard Lollapalooza sort of weekend.....in fact, it's scheduled for the week that the students from the universities located in and around Austin are all *gone* for Spring Break! This is more of a testing ground for bands (both experienced and not), an industry-attended event during which the majority of people consume thousands of dollars of bottled water rather than beer and other substances, the main attitude being that it's best to be sober if you should *magically* stumble across some young band that Has It. And that does happen. Not a lot but...the hope for it is there...on *both* sides of the board, believe me.:)
And that adds this incredible *POSITIVE*, *EXCITED* vibe to the whole weekend. There are plenty of Nay Sayers about SXSW....a whole 'South By So What' group (clever use of words, I think ;)) but....you know what? You just can't let that bother you. Yeah, wristbands go up in price every year. Yes, getting a showcase is (I hear) a very 'political' thing. Yes, our feet hurt, we often can't see and many times weather or sound will be *really cruddy*.
This is my 17th year, or something close to that. I'm still forking out the bucks for the wristbands, whatever they ask. *sighs longingly* One day, I'll be able to afford a badge again. ;) I can honestly say that in all my years of ritual attendance, I have never been disapointed. Or bored. Or angry. Sometimes, I've been bummed to not get into a gig I wanted to see but....there was always someone else's act to catch 'if we hurry real fast!'. :):)
The act of sharing it with a good friend always makes it a Special Year. The act of sharing it (for me) with the *same* good friends year after year makes it my Special Week of the Year. Right now, I'm getting such a *kick* out of the fact that Emma is off over there across the big, wide sea, driving around about to blow the speakers in her car out from playing 'Lighted Up' too loudly.....just as I am here. And that, when she listens to it, she sees this *cool* little space...you couldn't really call it a bar, per se, because it's an outside courtyard sort of thing, between two halves of the same bar, called Cedar Street, in downtown Austin. They have white twinkle lights strung around and an awning over the platform used as a stage area for the bands...usually there's lots of jazz there. Because it's between these two old brick three-story buildings, the sound is 'live'! To have a friend sharing the same 'mental video' (and I have to mention here that Gabriel Mann has *fabulous* hair!)...one that we saw live together and is *not* from some canned thing on television *note scorn in voice, please* ;)....is just...well, I don't know....really really cool. *grins* It's late. I'm turning into a doofus.
So I better go to bed. I'm off work tomorrow and plan to work in the yard...the rain has the ground all soft and mushy and I can dig the new flower beds I've been wanting to make in the front yard and on the side of the house.:)
In fact, this week I start my new schedule. I'll be working Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 3-7/7:30pm. I might go in for a little while on Tuesday and just sort of survey the damage. ;) It'll be nice to have regular sort of hours for a change.:) We'll see how it works out.:)
I'm off to Dreamland...will be around tomorrow, should anyone choose to phone me...otherwise, I will talk to you here...or somewhere.:)
A bientot, mes amis!
xox
I am not sure how you'd exactly go about explaining South By Southwest to someone who hasn't attended before. Practically speaking, I learned (via Emma) that a warning about the fact that there is *no* sitting the entire time would be of great help. We actually sat down more this year than I think we ever have before....at gigs, I mean. Mainly, it's standing around for hours on end, on cement floors. (Oh, my aching *back*!) However......aside from the practical is the much more important issue of....what can I call it?...emotion?...intensity?...accessibility?.... professionalism?
That might be something to think about....for me, I mean....I'm always just thinking about stuff, for no particular reason. A music festival is one thing. SXSW gives the appearance of *being* a music festival but....it's not. Not at all, really. There are all ages of attendees, so it's not an age thing.....but it's also definitely not a 'kid' sort of thing, either...not just your standard Lollapalooza sort of weekend.....in fact, it's scheduled for the week that the students from the universities located in and around Austin are all *gone* for Spring Break! This is more of a testing ground for bands (both experienced and not), an industry-attended event during which the majority of people consume thousands of dollars of bottled water rather than beer and other substances, the main attitude being that it's best to be sober if you should *magically* stumble across some young band that Has It. And that does happen. Not a lot but...the hope for it is there...on *both* sides of the board, believe me.:)
And that adds this incredible *POSITIVE*, *EXCITED* vibe to the whole weekend. There are plenty of Nay Sayers about SXSW....a whole 'South By So What' group (clever use of words, I think ;)) but....you know what? You just can't let that bother you. Yeah, wristbands go up in price every year. Yes, getting a showcase is (I hear) a very 'political' thing. Yes, our feet hurt, we often can't see and many times weather or sound will be *really cruddy*.
This is my 17th year, or something close to that. I'm still forking out the bucks for the wristbands, whatever they ask. *sighs longingly* One day, I'll be able to afford a badge again. ;) I can honestly say that in all my years of ritual attendance, I have never been disapointed. Or bored. Or angry. Sometimes, I've been bummed to not get into a gig I wanted to see but....there was always someone else's act to catch 'if we hurry real fast!'. :):)
The act of sharing it with a good friend always makes it a Special Year. The act of sharing it (for me) with the *same* good friends year after year makes it my Special Week of the Year. Right now, I'm getting such a *kick* out of the fact that Emma is off over there across the big, wide sea, driving around about to blow the speakers in her car out from playing 'Lighted Up' too loudly.....just as I am here. And that, when she listens to it, she sees this *cool* little space...you couldn't really call it a bar, per se, because it's an outside courtyard sort of thing, between two halves of the same bar, called Cedar Street, in downtown Austin. They have white twinkle lights strung around and an awning over the platform used as a stage area for the bands...usually there's lots of jazz there. Because it's between these two old brick three-story buildings, the sound is 'live'! To have a friend sharing the same 'mental video' (and I have to mention here that Gabriel Mann has *fabulous* hair!)...one that we saw live together and is *not* from some canned thing on television *note scorn in voice, please* ;)....is just...well, I don't know....really really cool. *grins* It's late. I'm turning into a doofus.
So I better go to bed. I'm off work tomorrow and plan to work in the yard...the rain has the ground all soft and mushy and I can dig the new flower beds I've been wanting to make in the front yard and on the side of the house.:)
In fact, this week I start my new schedule. I'll be working Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 3-7/7:30pm. I might go in for a little while on Tuesday and just sort of survey the damage. ;) It'll be nice to have regular sort of hours for a change.:) We'll see how it works out.:)
I'm off to Dreamland...will be around tomorrow, should anyone choose to phone me...otherwise, I will talk to you here...or somewhere.:)
A bientot, mes amis!
xox