SXSW 2012

[Lunkhead]

Who's going to SXSW in Austin in March this year? Also, who lives in Austin and will be in town during SXSW? There is some chance I will be going, and Erin would like to come too. There are a lot of details TBD for me, as things are very preliminary at the moment. I'm just putting the feelers out, as they say, to who might be in Austin 3/12-3/19. I also posted this on FB.

[RangerDenni]

I do live in Austin. I don't know how active I'll be during southby as I have not played out much at all this past year. Also my husband's birthday falls squarely in the middle of the biggest music festival of the year. Convenient. I may or may not keep a regular off-site gig I've participated in for years and years, or play at some other things.

I would love to meet up though. A meet-up of the lot of us sounds fun, actually....... hmmmmmm.. perhapso?

[Lunkhead]

Oh yeah, I'm just wondering who would be around to hang out (not necessarily just who is going to SXSW in some capacity).

[JonPorobil]

I generally try to avoid the chaos of Downtown Austin during SXSW, but I do live in town, and would love to see you guys if you're here. Last year I went to a free Frontalot show during South-By, but that was it.

I'll have to run it by the wife, but I could probably throw a gathering at my house for hanging out, jamming, drinking, and possibly eating some barbecue - assuming there are interested potential attendees.

Any other Songfighters thinking about making the trek down here for SXSW this year?

[nyjm]

Ah dammit. My brain went: "March? Spring break is in March. I have a week off! I'd love to do SXSW!"

Alas, no. It starts after my break. *le sigh* There's always SF! Live, right?

[irwin]

Being in Austin for SXSW is on my bucket list. I don't know if this will be the year, though.

[RangerDenni]

Hanging out can happen in a number of ways. I'm good for it for sure

[JonPorobil]

Hey, the first of the travelers appear to have arrived in town, and traffic downtown is a mess right now.

It reminded me of this conversation, and made me wonder whether Sam and Erin - or any other Song Fighters - are going to be in town this year. Let me know if you want to meet up, or if you'd like me to make good on my earlier threat to host a barbecue.

[RangerDenni]

If people are in town still we might could try avoiding the 14th because it is Mr.DJRangerDen's birthday that day
(my presence is not a requirement or anything but I like to C people )

[Lunkhead]

I will be there Monday the 12th through Monday the 19th for work. We're going to be staying at a vacation house about 25 miles outside of town. They've set up some kind of shuttle to go between Austin and our house 5-6 times a day/night. During the week we'll work normal hours, though we're allowed to schedule those hours however we like (i.e. we can opt to work in the evening if there are daytime SXSW activities we want to enjoy). I'll be completely free on the weekend. I'd like to try to meet up with folks. There are lots of Song Fight! locals, and I have a college friend who lives there that I haven't seen in ages. I'd also like to try to see MC Frontalot and the Spinto Band's gigs. Other than that I'm not sure what shows I will try to go to. Also, my company has its own venue with three stages of music every night: http://sxsw.bandpage.com/ If people want to brave the insanity downtown I can maybe get people in there and get free drinks or something. Unfortunately Erin will not be coming along.

[JonPorobil]

Alright, so let's plan a bit.

Sam, the place you're staying is 25 miles away in which direction? I'm near the north end of town (technically closer to downtown Round Rock than to downtown Austin), and traffic isn't that bad in my neck of the woods. The further south you go, the worse it gets. If I wanted to host something at my place, it wouldn't be that bad to get to... unless you're coming from south of Austin, in which case it's pretty much inevitable that you'll be in traffic for at least an hour no matter where you're trying to get to.

I've got no conflicting plans and my wife will be in Houston that weekend, so I'd be down for hosting a party/jam session on Saturday or Sunday. However, given the logistics, there are several scenarios where it might make more sense just to meet at various SXSW events.

When/where are the Frontalot and Spinto Band sets? Also, I might be convinced to come to your company's stage for a single night, provided I can convince Dell to give me the following day off. Sam, are you familiar with any of the bands playing there? Anybody you'd recommend?

Who's local? Me, Denni, Erik, Marcus, the WreckdoM guys, Future Boy, and I know Seth (Brother Machine) still lives out here, although I don't know if anyone from Songfight has dealt with him in a while. I'm probably forgetting someone.

Any other out-of-towners visiting for the big fest?

[Lunkhead]

I'll be staying here, which is mostly west and a little south of Austin:

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p399647

I won't really have my own transportation, outside of the company arranged shuttle going between our house and our venue. My ability to otherwise get out of the SXSW zone may be pretty limited.

Frontalot is slated at 1am, headlining the nerdcore showcase, Tuesday night:

http://schedule.sxsw.com/2012/events/event_MS17138

He's doing some other shows too, details are on his Web site.

The Spinto Band is set to go on at 1am also, on Wednesday night:

http://schedule.sxsw.com/2012/events/event_MS15912

They're also doing some other performances, info on their Web site/Facebook/etc.

The schedule for my company's venue is supposed to be here but it doesn't appear to be working right now for some reason. I get a page of icons and when I click them I go to another page with just a loading image. I think somebody is in the middle of setting it up or something.

http://bandpagehq.tumblr.com/

[Lunkhead]

So far I met and hung out with Nancy Whang from LCD Soundsystem, saw Billy Corgan haunting our company's venue, saw and hung out with MC Frontalot and various other nerdcore folks, saw the Spinto Band for the first time (so great!), hung out a little bit with them and various other Song Fight! folks (Ken Flagg, Marcus Kellis, Bjam), and ran into a college friend on the street. Tonight we're having a pig roast at our house. Fun times!

[Lunkhead]

I head back home tomorrow. Since I didn't really have my own transportation and I've been staying 45 minutes outside of town I wound up basically being out of town or only in downtown in the heart of the SXSW insanity. Sorry I didn't get to see some of you this time, but I'd love to come back. I hear October is a good time of year to visit.