Images from SXSW 2013

Another day and night of fun and splendor as 6th and Congress remains the focal point of energy in downtown Austin. On Saturday, March 15, Oliver and Wilder Lee moved across the street. Balafon player Abou Sylla returned from last year. The Yellow Roses returned from yesterday. The Magician and Sonia did not. 

A rapper with his own videographer and a portable generator to power the sound took up the northeast corner. The valets at Ruth'sChris could not park in their garage because a pianist and his lively and talented skittle band blocked the entrance. Also making a video of some sort, a fake priest declaimed to his cast of actors and actresses about "The Church" (whatever he might have meant about that.) As the night ground along, the crowd flowed back and forth more quickly and also slid down the socio-economic scale. I finally had to warn a mild vagrant and his really nice dog that they were not going to sleep in the doorway of Brooks Brothers. 

Oliver on bass and Wilder Lee with banjo and percussion

The flash is connected to the camera ...

Thursday, March 14, was "Camera Day." Cameras are common enough at SXSW, of course, but the shutterbugs swarmed the streets with equipment closer to field artillery than to anything you carry in your pocket.  This was a professional shoot. They took about 50 clicks with her sitting and then standing on the corner in "Vogue" poses.

The camera is connected to the flash over the model

YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS,

a gentlemen's club

Right space; wrong time. He missed the Yellow Roses.

Sonia was more interesting with eight knives stuck in the box.
She assisted her father with his magic tricks.

Even blindfolded Sonia can see what is behind her.
She actually missed this one: Dad's fault of course.

These were some of the people who worked the intersection of 6th and Congress on Thursday.  Blues and bluegrass, rock or skittle, tuba, xylophone, acoustic and electric, break dancing, no corner goes unoccupied for long.  These shots were possible only in the moments when the on-lookers were sparse.  To get me to work, we just waited for traffic to stall and did a "fire drill." Later, on my way to a bus stop after work, I found the poet Bill Keys up a block, once again surrounded by girls. (Oh, why I did choose technical writing?)  

Friday the 15th Abou Sylla plays the balafon

Saturday the 16th
Signing the "Charity Life" tour bus (www.MyCharityLife.com)
This is basically a clearing house for small and local charities.
You can pledge as little as $5. Your favorite charities save
the burden of administrative staff.

Saturday the 16th "Chico Chico" plays "Puttin' on the Ritz"

ALSO ON NECESSARY FACTS

South by Southwest 2013

South by Southwest 2012

Formulas for Success

Austin at Night

Around Austin

Austin at Night

Downtown Austin is party central.  The police cordon off streets for the convenience of people walking among bars, restaurants, clubs, and hotels.  Sunday and Monday are pretty quiet.  By Tuesday enough people have recovered from the previous weekend.  Wednesday looks like the weekend in most other places.  Thursday is the warm-up for Friday. Friday night and Saturday night are what it's all about.

David Navarro plays the hackdrum
he bought custom made in Switzerland. 

The Chronicle is the weekly entertainment newspaper, about 60 pages of ads for things to do thinly wrapped in a few liberal editorial complaints about the state and local governments. (Some people just cannot get enough government intervention in their lives... or maybe they just prefer it be in someone else's life...)  The Onion is published here, also.  Once you get past the humor (and the only rational opinions hereabouts on current events), the regular columns and advertising are all about things to do: music, comedy, and theater (live and cinema). The two public broadcast radio stations do not compete.  KUT-FM from the University of Texas carries "Morning Edition" and all the rest sandwiched within hour after hour of original music and new standards.  Musicians come to the studio to play live.  KMFA-FM is all classical (Romantic, Baroque, etc.) and no political news at all: local concerts and recitals only.   "Composers Datebook" lets us glimpse into the present century, "reminding you that all music was once new."

"If I had a name, it would be Drummer."

The party is everywhere in downtown, though Sixth and Congress is pretty much ground zero.  Going east on Sixth, you find the younger crowd, university kids and locals.  Going west you have the older set. But generalizations fail in three square miles of anything you want.  And that's only north of the river.  Austin has much more all over; and if South by Southwest is not enough, there is "North by Northwest" an entertainment brewpub near Tech Ridge


Myself, except as I keep some downtown offices safe and secure, I would never see any of this.  When I moved here, I got a library card first and then a driver's license.  I joined the local Macintosh users group, and found Dragon's Lair bookstore for D&D gaming.  I also have lunch once a month with the Austin Tech Republicans who do very little impromptu music.

ALSO ON NECESSARY FACTS
Around Austin
Stadtluft Macht Frei
South by Southwest 2013
Images from SXSW 2013
South by Southwest 2012