Phew, back from a full day traveling. I probably shouldn’t give idjuts like this any attention, but this showed up in the link backs, and reading it in the context of absorbing so much of the SXSW greatness really drove home to me why it was worth the hassle of getting to Austin and back. I promise you that nothing really makes you love the warm, happy vibe given off by the music lovers at SXSW like reading a joyless, humorless wingnut and his readers bitch about evil women, evil hipsters, evil non-white people, anyone who they dislike existing, much less being happy and feeling free. I read that briefly and then went out downtown and walked by one club or parking lot after another with a band shoved up in the corner and crowd upon crowd of people dancing, singing, hugging each other, looking good, and bouncing up and down with the love of the music and of each other. What an amazing contrast!
It was fucking cold, too. That just makes the whole thing so much more remarkable. The weather report up until the cold front actually hit put the temperatures in the low to high 50s region. But it was actually in the low 30s to low 40s. For locals who had access to their winter coats and hats and sweaters, not that big a deal. For people who traveled in and had only their spring jackets and lighter shirts, it was daunting as hell. And yet, we came out in droves. We shivered in line, shivered as we walked, shivered at outdoors shows until the music played, and then we danced even harder to warm up. Because even though it was the last day of the festival, people couldn’t stand to know that there were great bands to see, and dammit, they were going to see them.
This week, for these reasons and others, really was a reminder of how important it is to live joyfully if you can. So many times walking in to a club and seeing friends that were already there, grinning their heads off out of sheer enthusiasm for being here, and being alive, and being able to be a fan of music, and being able to share that with others. So, with that in mind, I’m going to focus on the crowd’s reaction to the bands I saw yesterday.