SXSW Wrap-up

I've had a couple of weeks now to digest this year's SXSW experience and I have to say, overall, it was one of the best trips of my life. Last year I went by myself and all I could think about was how much more fun it would have been if my friends were there. Don't get me wrong. I ended up hanging out with a lot of cool Memphis folks last year too - but this year, by some sort of alignment of the stars I was able to drag a total of about 30 people down to Austin with me to experience rock and roll spring break. And everyone I have spoken to is ready to go back again next year!

I have been chronicling the shows I saw on Scenestars.net but I thought I would spend just a moment going over the nuts and bolts in list format - for the archves and the people who don't necessarily care about the party escapades.

Bands Seen:

Blonde Redhead
Mondo Diano
Annuals
Scanners
The Deadly Syndrome
Cloud Cult
Under Byen
Digital Leather
Oh No! Oh My!
Badly Drawn Boy
Data Rock
Thunderbirds Are Now
Catfish Haven
Apostles of Hustle
Sea Wolf
De Novo Dahl
Briertone
St Vincents
Polyphonic Spree
Snowglobe
Giant Bear
Jamie Randolph
Antenna Shoes
Jump Back Jake
Holly Cole
Blair Combest

So, what happened with the showcase you ask? Well I underestimated just how many people would be over the "rock' by Sunday - so it wasn't a packed event. But we still had a lot of positive things come out of it.

1. An entertainment lawyer was in at the show and made contact with one of the bands about placement.
2. One of the bookers for Monolith Festival was at the show and is interested in booking one of the bands.
3. Dodge from My Old KY Blog came to hang out and wrote some very favorable stuff about Snowglobe.
4. We got to have an awesome afterparty at the Oh No! Oh My house with most of the musicians and had a great time.
5. I was tapped to be a part of one of the biggest SXSW day parties during 2008.
6. There are rumors of their being an official SXSW Memphis showcase in 2008.
7. Andy Earles wrote a favorable review in the Memphis Flyer about the show.

So, all in all, I would say the show was a huge succes and tons of fun.

And now, here is a list of all the poeple who helped make this event happen:

Louis Myers
Dean Deyo
Cameron Mann
Patrick McNeely
Clay Hurley
Scott Lapatine
Drue Diehl
Chris Swenson
Brandon Thornberg
Angela Gillen
Peter Short
The Hitone (Especially Dan, Arron and Joel!)
Jake Rabinbach
Jake Vest
Blair Combest
Steve Selvidge
Holly Cole
Mike Larrivee
Robert Humphreys
Greg Faison
Brandon Rebertson
Jeff Hulett
Jeff White
Mike Larrivee
Jeff Nuckolls
Jana Misener
Justin Gage
Craig Lile
Jamie Randolph
Josh Horton
Brad Postlethwaite
Tim Regan
Nashon Benford

And all the Memphis folks who came down to hang out and see the show!

And all the other bloggers who wrote about the show.

I owe all of the above folks my sincerest thanks! Let's do it again next year!