SXSW

You may already know that South By Southwest (SXSW) is a big music conference here in Austin. A couple years ago, when I first moved here, I volunteered for the music production committee and ended up working three nights in a row moving bands on and off stage from 8 pm 'til closing. I had a good time, but it was my misfortune to get a job the week beforehand, and therefore was not be able to take time off from work--resulting in three days of double shifts. Ouch.

The next year I did absolutely nothing for SXSW. This year, I'm not volunteering or planning to do much. A wristband, costing hundreds of dollars, will get you into any venue any of the four days of the conference. I already know that I don't have that much energy to make that worth the price, so I'll end up going down for one night this time and try to get in to someplace without a wristband, or maybe to just watch the spectacle that is SXSW. I stopped downtown on my way home from work tonight, and was instantly amused. The whole area was bustling with people dressed and made up like rock stars. I've always thought that being a rock star meant that you were supposed to look somehow different than everyone else, but tonight proved to me that even that occupation has its expected attire.