The Smithereens at SXSW 2008 - more photos... photo by Jeff Barringer - staff photographer |
by jeff barringer
club kingsnake staff
So SXSW has officially started, at least the interactive and film portions, and already the griping and whining appears to be out of control.
Not here, here we are all smiles and sunshine, but the guys over at News.com and now the blogosphere in general seem to be in in ultra whine mode. Seems that Daniel Terdiman and crew over at CNets site started the crying early with his post "
Egad! Has SXSWi lost its edge?" and he followed it up with this post yesterday, "
SXSWi party lines best evidence of event's massive growth". I found the statement he made about Saturday night's festivities below particularly amusing.
"Well, last year, I went to one of SXSWi's biggest parties at the same venue where the 16bit party was held last night, and there was little or no waiting. The same for previous years' Mix at Sixes.
My conclusion? That the crowds at this year's SXSWi are so big that none of the shindigs can handle them without long lines. "
Now what makes this funny is that either Terdiman's conclusion is wrong or EVERYONE at SXSWi listened to him and stayed in Sunday night. Clint Gilders and I went to the Sun Microsystems party at La Zona Rosa Sunday, a venue that regularly holds 1200 concertgoers, and at most 150 people showed up. No lines. no waiting, even the buffet was line free. No lines at the bathrooms, at the bars. No lines at all. Which was amazing because Sun even flew in Seven Mary Three from Florida and The Smithereens from New Jersey to perform, and they were fantastic by the way. Heck, we even spent 20 minutes talking with Seven Mary Three before their set. Clint and I spent all night sipping on frosty beverages, eating free food, listening to some good rock and roll, and talking to the Sun guys about their almost silent acquisition of MySQL, which in real world terms is a much, much bigger story than Facebook.
Seven Mary Three at SXSW 2008- more photos... photo by Jeff Barringer - staff photographer |
I would have much rather sat through an interview with Sun Chairman Scott McNealy than listen to this years over-hyped Web 2.0 golden boy Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. I think that while News Corp. squandered their money on MySpace, Google blew a ton on an un-profitable Youtube, and Microsoft bought a tiny slice of Facebook for a lot more than it's worth, McNealy snuck in and pulled off the REAL coup with Sun's acquisition of MySQL. MySQL is the backbone of MILLIONS of websites big and small (including all of ours) and I am much more interested in hearing what their plans are with it than what the web 2.0 flavor of the month or year has to say. Especially if all their going to do is
toss him softballs.
But I digress... This is a MUSIC blog after all.
If those SXSWi people really want to complain about lines, try getting into R.E.M.'s showcase at Stubb's Wednesday and then get back to me.... uuun kay?
Upcoming stuff to look forward to... Christie Keith has flown in from San Francisco and has got something going with the Body Of War people. She and Clint will be screening the movie and shooting stills of the Thursday showcase. Is a Serj Tankian or Tom Morello interview in our future? More on that to follow.
I will be covering Roky Ericson's Ice Cream Social on Thursday, with all its special guests announced, unannounced, and rumored. I have had a look at SOME of the confirmed guests and been sworn to secrecy (we have been invited to do the "official" filming of the event by Roky's trust again this year!). I can say this. If you plan on going your $20.00 admission will be the biggest bargain of SXSW.
While I am filming Roky on Thursday, Clint will be over covering the Scion day party at Stubb's and hopefully coming back with a camera full of Motörhead stills. If anyone hears about a second Motörhead gig at SXSW, perhaps a secret or private gig, please drop me a note, I think it's the only band I will miss
that I really wanted to see.
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