SXSW 2012

I made an effort to take my old butt down to SXSW this year. I will say that I didn't do it up as much as last year but I did pretty good. I started on Thursday and got down to my first event at 3:30pm-ish. I went to the Filter Magazine party at Cedar Street to see Kaiser Chiefs and Keane. I got there and there was a pretty big crowd. I stood on the sidewalk and inched my way up so I could see the stage pretty well. I had a RSVP to the party but I finally saw the line for that and it was around the corner. Dilemma - Do I go stand in that line and run the risk of not hearing these 2 bands or do I stay where I am? There is a better view and free beverages if I get in but...! So the verdict is - stay where I am! I met some nice folks and had a great time. Love both of those groups! Go see them if you get a chance. After this was over, I walked over to 2nd and Trinity to get in line to get my wristband for Pure Volume house. It was loads of fun in there last year - we snuck into a VIP area and had our own bar and access to computers as well as some cool "frames" for us to take pictures with. However, it was in such a better location last year. We never ended up there this year. Friday, I went to the British Music party at Latitude 30. It was the Scottish Showcase and it was fantastic! 4 acts and every one of them was really good. First was a DJ called Jackmaster. He was super! Most of the time I get bored by DJ's pretty fast. This guy mixed it up so much, I was jammin' the whole time! After him, there were 3 bands: Three Blind Wolves, The Xcerts, and The Twilight Sad! All of them were great! I highly recommend you checking them out. After this show, I met up with my friends. We went to Buffalo Billiards to get some dinner and while we were there, things got a little sketchy!! Dr. Sketchy decided we needed to meet some Irish guys because we there was an earlier conversation about Ireland and Norther Ireland. They were nice guys. It was these 2 guys that were in a band and their handler. They were quite happy to eat our food and drink the beverages the Dr. bought them. It was fun to meet them. I wasn't able to go see them but I looked them up online and I like their sound. Their name is Viva City. We walked back to the car and were trying to get prepared mentally for a very early Saturday morning. The Dr. had made a plan for us to be at Fado at 7am to go hang out with the 101X morning show folks there and then we were going to Rachel Ray's SX party. Well, as they say, best laid plans! 3 of the 4 of us made it. If you're guessing right now, you're probably right. The good Dr didn't make it. But the girls did and we had a great time getting started at 7:30am. It was early but there were a LOT of people there. We had some breakfast and some "hair of the dog" (aka mimosas) and then we walked over to Stubb's to get in line for RR's party. The line was really long (down 9th St. almost to I-35 frontage). We thought that we might have a problem getting in but we got in 15 minutes after the gates opened. It was a wonderful party. There were lots of people and a huge line for the free food. Surprisingly, the bars didn't have lines. We hung out there and listened to some great music: Bob Schneider, Imaginary Dragons, Of Monsters and Men, Jimmy Cliff, The Givers, etc. It was super! Then we went over to the British party but it wasn't as fun as it was Friday. It was then decided to go get some dinner and then go home. It was a fun time. Did a lot of walking and a lot of beverage drinking. Heard some wonderful music and spent time with my friends. Who knows - next year might require a little more time there.