South By Southwest 2006

SxSW was a hell of a time...when it was time to leave, I had that same gut wrenching feeling (multiply by 2 or 3 times) you might have experienced when it was time to part ways withh everyone following that school play you all worked on together, or something like that...I basically had a special time with special people. Out of the 3 or 4 times I've been down to Austin for this, this was by far the most productive and fun time I've had.

Personal live music highlights:

- The Gang of Four on the roof of a parking garage, see pics below.
- Billy Bragg at the Anti Records Hootenanny. After the complete mayhem of being front & center at Gang of Four, this was the perfect way to come down especially as it was the last night of the conference. Sitting in a beautiful dark church packed with 400-500 people you could hear a pin drop. Billy said, "It's nice to see so many people in church on a Sunday morning!" (It was around 1:00AM or so.) He then proceeded to play a great song about having faith. In context, (the setting, the company) I haven't felt that much peace & serenity in a long long time...it was quite moving.
- Art Brut at the Vice Records afternoon party
- The Go! Team at Stubbs...what these guys lack in technique, they more than make up for in enthusiasm.
- Echo & the Bunnymen outside at Town Lake in front of 10,000...As we crossed the bridge back into town during the encore, The Killing Moon floated through the air...as close to a real soundtrack as may ever happen to me.

There were other good moments as well...too many to mention here. To follow are a few pictures...special thanks to Wendy for them! I really need to get myself a decent digital camera one of these days.

Me & Stella from Tralala

Me & co-worker Jordy (he's got my back):


Me & singer/songwriter (and all around good guy) Paul Manousos:


Me & Wendy Weisberg (one of the finest people I could ever hope to meet & one heck of a publicist):


The Gang of Four in action (dig the banana):