Rock of the Arts

We need more Wisconsin music in Austin, Texas! The first annual SXWI day party commenced in Austin on St. Patrick’s day during the South by Southwest music festival. Fueled by a collective of Wisconsin musicians, bloggers, promoters and creatives the event showcased the state’s progressive culture and music. In addition, a complimentary flow of Wisconsin microbrew and mouth watering brats kept the crowd’s energy level intact.

All Tiny Creatures

Middle Brother = John McCauley of Deer Tick, Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes & Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit. Check out the soaring harmonies of 'Daydreaming' from their first performance at the Ale House in Austin, Texas during SXSW.

Band of Horses 'The General Specific' at SXSW 2010

Zola Jesus - Sea Talk - Live SXSW 2010

SXSW 2010 Diary

Each morning we get up progressively later and slide on down to the hotel breakfast buffet before it closes. Today we notice members of Frightened Rabbit contemplating what kind of omelet they want to have while we try not to look too disheveled. But hell everybody in the hotel at this time of the morning looks disheveled!

At this point, people start to get a little crazy from lack of sleep and overall shock of seeing hundreds of bands. You’ve got bands in bars, bands on the street, bands in churches, bands in peoples’ backyards. Literally everywhere you look is a band or artist. The streets are clogged with more band tour buses, vans and trailers than Madison on UW moving day. SXSW brings in more money to the city of Austin annually than any other event. Local cab drivers and pedicycle operators estimate about 100 – 150,000 additional people in the city for the music festival.

Zola Jesus

SXSW 2010 Diary

That’s pretty much the shtick at SXSW. With around 2,000 artists playing on multiple stages throughout downtown Austin from 11am until 2am in the morning every day. All varieties of music, but indie rock is prevalent with a heavy dose of metal, folk and alt-country. Musicians that don’t have an arranged gig at a club or outdoor stage play on the street to the thousands of SXSW festival fans.

We start SXSW on St Patty’s day where we have the opportunity to celebrate the green in Texas. The weather conditions are perfect; sunny and low 70’s. The main drag in Austin is 6th street where every building seems to contain a stage for some type of live music. Portions of Sixth Street were shut down for St Patty’s day to give the event more of a street party feel. That’s not unusual as we found out later that Sixth Street is shut down every Thursday through Saturday to cater to the throngs attracted to the numerous music venues.

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

Sharon Jones - I Learned the Hard Way