SXSW Marks the Spot
For those who attend the annual South by Southwest music festival and conference in Austin, TX, it is all business - bands and labels locked in a tense courtship. But for the avid music lover, it can be a sonic smorgasbord. With over 1,100 acts, big and small, rocking through 5 heady nights from March 15-19, the next big thing, or better yet, the next great thing, is surely hidden in plain sight.
The secret, spontaneous concert makes all of the hullabaloo worthwhile.
A forum by day, a free-for-all by night, SXSW - as it is known to staff and insiders - is entering its 20th year of separating the wheat from the chaff. Industry insiders and music lovers alike clamor for tickets, as people from all around the country pack the clubs and theaters of downtown Austin, angling for a glimpse of the next hot band or old favorites who will never truly get old.
Of the latter, the SXSW conference offers a rare opportunity to hear Neil "Rockin' in the Free World" Young, legendary Smiths lead singer Morrissey, folksinger Judy Collins, anti-folksinger Billy Bragg, and country music icon Kris Kristofferson tell the tales and share the learned wisdom of a lifetime devoted to the art of storytelling in song. And then there is the rarest of rare occurrences - the moments that make all of the hullabaloo worthwhile: the secret, spontaneous concert. In 2004, Garrett Kamps, former music columnist for SF Weekly, caught wind of a secret show by Kristofferson. He arrived at a small club to find around 50 people milling about. "Every once in a while, South by Southwest does something special," he remembers the MC saying. Then, out of nowhere, there he was - Kristofferson with his guitar. During the 45-minute set, Kamps looked over to see a veteran label owner, a tall grizzled gentleman, crying "big fat tears of joy. Like a sloppy, happy baby."
Posted on March 06, 2006
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