I left Clint and Jeff in Austin and headed home after 8 days -- completely exhausted. I had to leave at 5 this morning, which means I've had around four hours sleep, if that. I got back to San Francisco around the time I would normally be getting up. There just isn't enough coffee in all the Starbucks in all the aiport waiting areas in the world to fix that.
My final day at SXSW was the longest and busiest of the entire week, but two events dominate it absolutely: the premiere of an unbelievably powerful documentary, "Body of War," and the showcase concert that followed, featuring artists from the soundtrack including Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, the Nightwatchman), Ben Harper, and Billy Bragg.
The undeniable star of both events was Tomas Young (photo of him visiting Ground Zero, courtesy of bodyofwar.com), the disabled Iraq veteran who is the subject of the film.
I'm still waiting for Clint to upload photos from the "Body of War" film q&a and the concert, and will post more then -- he just texted me from the streets of Austin that he's uploading them shortly. But in the meantime, the CD will be released Tuesday, and the film starts nationwide in the next few weeks -- different dates in different cities. The schedule can be viewed by clicking on "In Theaters" here.
I went for the soundtrack -- and it is incredible, featuring original material by Eddie Vedder as well as contributions from dozens of other alternative artists. But right now I'm just grateful the music got me there, because I wouldn't have missed this for the world.