I swear I didn’t vote in this category. And I didn’t encourage any of my readers to do so. Still, I’m tickled to be included in the company of the obsessive writers in the Best Blogger category. Burnt Orange Report, which keeps a strict eye on government in the region, took the top post in a landslide, harvesting a full 36 percent of the vote. Our own little Out & About made it into a race with 22 percent of the tally. Here’s an odd statistic: The next four bloggers tied exactly at just over 8 percent — In the Pink, Ain’t ...

The metaphors swim through my consciousness. Walking the streets of Austin during SXSW, I’m a ship sailing through familiar yet unfamiliar seas. Or I’m flotsam surging with the tide, seeking a beachhead, a momentary haven from the pleasurable swells of sensation. I’ve begun the SXSW portion of the past 8 days in the same way — sluicing down South Congress Avenue toward the river and the world. Shops, eateries, craft booths, trailers, pet matchmakers, buskers, lounging regulars and tourists, sing, siren-like, for this Odysseus to tarry. Once downtown, past the cleansing bridge, the sidewalks, many still broken and bent, hoist tens ...

I have sneaking suspicion that preferences in this category will change over the years, as more people move upward into those downtown towers. Yet for the time being, the Best Place to Catch a Sunset, according to A List readers, is still the Oasis, the hillside restaurant and bar out at Lake Travis. It received 39 percent of the vote. Mount Bonnell, a scenic magnet for centuries, came in second with 18 percent. Iguana Grill managed a respectable 11 percent, while Hula Hut relaxed with 10 percent. Lake Travis, the whole of it, merited 8 percent. The UT Tower, Zilker Park, ...

It’s a tie! Del Castillo, the flamenco-guitar and family-based act, and Grupo Fantasma, the big-band blasters, both received exactly 25 percent of the vote in the A List poll for Best Latin Singer or Group. Alejandro Escovedo, who continues to mature as an artist as life throws him more material, received 19 percent. David Garza, also evolving after decades in the local eye, won 13 percent. Brownout led the rest of the pack with 8 percent. The Brew, Frenetica, Los Bad Apples, Maneja Beto and Patricia Vonne settled for 6 percent of less. ...

OK, so why am I organizing this week’s A List winners under the rubric of “SXSW” as well? Because everything is SXSW this week. And visitors to Our Town want to know these local preferences as well. For instance, out-of-towners might not know that Tito’s Handmade Vodka is, hands down, the most popular locally produced beer, wine or liquor. The carefully distilled liquid won a whopping 46 percent of the A List readers poll vote. Look for it when you go out this week. Real Ale Brewing and Live Oak Brewing came in second and third with 17 percent and 12 ...

Next year, I’ll loiter longer at this event: Ray Benson’s Birthday Party is a feel-good fiesta. Staged on Tuesday, the ligature night of SXSW, the event at La Zona Rosa, now in its 10th year, generated generous crowds to support the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians. It’s an ideal union of food, fun and top music in the Texas tradition. Anika Kunik and Josh Watkins Start with that music: Besides Benson and Asleep at the Wheel, audiences covered the dance floor to Texas Tornados, Raul Malo, J.D. Souther, Kat Edmonson, Tim Curry, Gary Nicholson, Carolyn Wonderland, Shelly King, Dale Watson, Band ...

Sometimes, Mother Nature tells you to “stop.” Last night, leaving Halcyon after posting items for Newsmakers, I felt the first droplets of what would become 12 hours of steady rain. Not heavy, but steady. I had seriously considered hitting three more SXSW parties — Gowalla at the Belmont, Plutopia at MACC and Good Capitalist at Youthworks — but they were primarily outdoors. I’m sure the guests found a way to cope. They always do. But I needed the time off anyway. So far: 24 parties, 26 miles on foot, 3 miles by cab, more than 200 people engaged in conversation. I ...

Overheard on the deck of Star Bar: “This is the cool kids’ party.” Indeed, it felt that way. While the visiting throngs headed to the Gowalla party at the Belmont, Thrillist party at Stubb’s, or always thrilling Plutopia at the MACC, a few dozen entertainment-oriented Austinites relaxed over delicious drinks at the annual Locals Only Party, thrown in part by Giant Noise. David Kittredge and Ginger Roddick Right away, I ran into Ginger Roddick, former publicist for brother-in-law Andy Roddick. She’s now living in Norman, Okla., where her husband, John Roddick, is head of men’s tennis at the University of Oklahoma. ...

Leaning over the rail at the upstairs bar of Frank on Colorado Street, I flashed to 25 years ago. That’s when the long, tall, narrow building was home to the Boathouse, then Austin’s premiere gay club. Near to where I now smiled at diners below, I had scanned the dance floor for my friends on particularly populated nights. Susan Linn Ferris and Jake Gonzales But this gathering belong to the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival, which was welcoming guests to SXSW Film. The Steers & Queers Party assumed a jaunty Western flavor, without overplaying the theme. At the instigation ...

What’s the tweetiest community in Austin? High tech? Politics? Music? Movies? I’d put my bets on the food nation. I see more activity on Twitter, more foodie blogs, more Yelp reviews, you name it, about restaurants, food trailers, gardening, recipes and sustainable cooking and eating than any other general topic. Peter Tsai and Kristina Vallejo Which reminds me of the focus groups we conducted in 1994 for the launch of the XL weekly entertainment magazine. The No. 1 entertainment choice for Austinites? Going out to eat. Hasn’t changed since then. Vivian Chang and David Park The Food Bloggers Bash at Cedar Door, ...

I am the Invisible Man. That’s part of my social strategy. Play it against the wall. Greet. Listen. Ask questions. Divert. Tell stories at the appropriate junctures. Never call attention oneself. This is not the only — or even the most common — strategy for social columnists, but it works for me. People tell me things. For the most part, they trust me to use that information judiciously. Recently, I’ve decided to amplify the brand a bit. Regular Austin out-goers recognize my tightly regimented uniforms — black blazer, black slacks, black dress T or sweater, black bootlets combine for the ...

For somebody who began his adulthood behind the scenes, learning technology and building games, Richard Garriott has become accustomed to the limelight. For years, he has staged some of the most notorious parties in Austin — notorious for their sweet eccentricities, not bacchanalian excesses, by the way. And he has publicly backed the arts and sciences, particularly Zach Theatre and the nascent Austin Planetarium. Nicole Whiteside, Lindsey Taylor and Stanley Roy Williamson of Tiny Stolen Moments But once he spent some of those gaming dollars to train for a Russian space mission, Garriott’s public star, so to speak, has risen ...

SXSW head honcho Roland Swenson said something wise to me during the Microsoft BizSpark and Volusion Tech Cocktail at the Palm Door. Speaking about social events during SXSW Interactive, Swenson pointed out that guests really talked to each other, in contrast to SXSW Music, when it’s “party, party, party.” Matt Curtin and Chris Valentine Indeed, besides the distractions of conversation-killing music and hipster posing, the 700 or so sideparties during SXSW Music are partly about getting trashed. (“Rebel, rebel, you’re face is a mess.) In contrast, over the past six days of the SXSW Interactive and Film portions, I’ve noticed maybe ...

The Austin American-Statesman is rightly proud of its pioneering efforts online. It operates among the first newsrooms nationally to erase the distance between its print and online efforts — everything is geared for online first. It also created the first newspaper social media editor, filled immediately by Rob Quigley. Amy Grace Tharp, Doug Ulman, Lauren Willis and Katherine McLane Rob dreamed up the Texas Social Media Awards. In keeping with the Statesman’s trailblazing efforts, it was, last year, the first of its kind in the state. In the second year, 25 winners from around Texas were recognized, and Gowalla ...

No firm idea had formed in my mind about the SXSW Film Blogger/Press Mentoring session. Before I arrived at the Austin Convention Center on Sunday morning, my only real hint was that I was engaging guests one-on-one, which is far superior to speeches or panels at such conferences. None of my colleagues — mostly bloggers — knew what to expect either. (One was Austin Kleon, “a writer who draws,” whose image for a hand-on workshop graces this page.) Turns out most of the mentees were just as clueless. No matter. We dug into the speed-dating-style conversations with the kind of ...

After passing on several parties because the lines moved like glaciers — before global warming — I decided to stick one out. It was a bash thrown by Bastrop’s Spiderwood Studios on the Speakeasy Terrace. I wanted to honor the local heroes and experience the rooftop lounge on an ideal night. “314” and Michael Donlin The queue snaked across the entrances to Sky and the Shiner Saloon, almost to the Marq. For long time, it didn’t move at all. Still, I met Michael Donlin, a SXSW registration volunteer, originally from Hawaii, who had done fishing time in Alaska before working for ...

Word is way out about the Frog Design Party for SXSW Interactive. The masses multiply each year. Happily, the Mexican American Cultural Center plaza can accommodate thousands. This time, familiar features returned: The insect-inspired bicycles, the photo sessions and drink tent. Expanded: Sensors worn around the neck, linked to projections on giant screens, that tracked drinks, meet-ups through manikins and — ew! — toilet data. Brandy Nowlin and Dave Shaw Marketer Dave Shaw and I talked about everything under the stars, joined by Brandy Nowlin, who is working on a state beautification program. Also talked trash with event planner Danielle Thomas, ...

The Super Meet-Up at Maggie Mae’s was smaller than expected, diffidently staffed and not quite “super.” Those small complaint out of the way, I enjoyed the talk more than the music video creations on the stage of MM’s upper lounge. Jason DeLaPorte and Jose B. Sena and Tim Hayden My longest conversation engaged Tim Hayden of Blue Clover, an on- and off-line branding company, joined by Jose B. Sena, also of Blue Clover, and Jason DeLaPorte of the Social Styles app for the iPhone and iTouch. Our main question: How are social and smart phones affecting cultural behavior? What ...

“If another 34-year-old man gives me his best elevator pitch …” So complained a knowing SXSW watcher on the first day. Everybody you meet, especially at Interactive and Film, keeps an elevator pitch — otherwise known as a Hollywood pitch — in their back pockets, the better to sell their visions to strangers. I’m perfecting the “party pitch,” which obeys the 15-to-30-second time stricture, but adds the excitement of sharing gossip with friends at a social event: “You wouldn’t believe …” Andre Nader and Jared Golden On Saturday, the Entrepreneur’s Lounge, aka Chill 3.0, wasn’t like that at all. The weather ...

How apt that my first significant SXSW encounter on Saturday was with a capybara. A nonchalant gentleman walked the giant South American rodent near the Austin Convention Center with a halter leash. According to Wikipedia, “capybaras are social animals, usually found in groups between 10 and 30, though larger groups of up to 100 sometimes can be formed.” Capybara-like, SXSW Film and Interactive registrants, along with the general public, socialized in groups large and small, often along lines that wound around almost every downtown block. Long queues have always been the norm for movie premieres and music showcases. They have ...