In reporting on the rapid expansion of traffic during SXSW Interactive and Film, I by no means want to suggest that SXSW Music has been superseded. Not with 1,900 official showcases, and those acts playing multiple additional gigs, and all the other bands tacking on their quickie concerts. That could mean 6,000 or so discreet sets of music. One could feel the magnetic pull in each direction crossing through downtown, first northeast, then southwest on Thursday. People on the margins of the grid shimmered with energy. They strode toward events with a bounce in their steps. Their stage make-up and rocker ...

The entire zone from East Seventh Street to the MetroRail tracks, east of Interstate 35 and west of Comal Street, was honeycombed with improvised outdoor music venues. Brianna Bardhi, Ella Pala and Jen Shoemaker The prime destination: Levi’s Fader Fort, a combination of retail outlet, secret fort and mini-Austin City Limits Music Festival, timed each year to South by Southwest. “It’s warm and real,” said Austin’s Brianna Bardhi of the enclosure around an industrial structure. “Like a clubhouse.” Although originally conceived partly as an artist’s retreat, the Fader Fort now attracts pods of locals looking for non-SXSW action — and tall Budweisers, ...

One can become so jaded in Austin. Live music? Scores of options every night. Why bother? The acts come and go. Who could keep up with all of it? Even the experts can’t keep track. People think Rose Reyes, who oversees the music biz at the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau, possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of local acts. She told me at the Official SXSW Austin Music Showcase, however, that when she asks folks their favorite band, she often hasn’t heard of them. There are that many worthy acts. Well I was introduced to two that took my reason away at ...

Blown by the winds of chance, I took refuge at the Ginger Man the first night of SXSW Music. Clearly, many in the crowd were still still indulging their St. Patrick’s Day itch. Yet out on the patio, a goodly number were primed for the House of Songs unofficial showcase. So I lingered. First up was Salesman, a four-man Austin act with a remarkable talent for unusual, pushed-out rhythms and enraptured instrumentals. (Were there four onstage? Seems I counted just three, but the crowd was thick …) I’m keeping an eye out for them in the future. So one more ...

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So, it was a gorgeous and noisy day outside of Buli coffeehouse in the Oak Lawn area and Tuan and I went from talking about the Silence Equals Consent tour which is what brings him to town this weekend, to our pity for the blind rage of some Ugandan citizens against gays, plus anger at the U.S. theologians who fanned the flames of hate. Also: *Tonex’s honesty and the fallout. *Donnie McClurkin’s double standard *GLAAD’s double standard *The necessary cross-movement work and how the black gay community could lead the charge. A small taste of Fahari Arts Institute’s “Queerly ...

When legendary music manager Frank Murray (the Pogues, Thin Lizzy, etc.) announced he wanted to make Fleadh Austin a revel that would rival St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Boston, New York and other Irish-American metropolises, we smiled. That would be lovely, wouldn’t it, daydreamed the Irish half of my brain. Frank Murray, Kay Gourley and Dara Murray Pronounced “flah,” fleadh is Gaelic for festival. Murray lined up some of his Irish acts — Broken Records, the Lost Brothers, Julie Feeney, Villagers, the Minutes, the Mighty Stef and the Coronas for the St. Paddy’s party at the Fourth Street Fort (former Levi’s ...

Form our various spies this week and compiled in Newsmakers … You can’t leave the house without tripping over a celebrity during South by Southwest. On Sunday night, singer Patty Griffin and “Friday Night Lights” actress Dana Wheeler-Nicholson were among those celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Hotel San Jose. R&B legend Barbara Lynn rocked a crowd in the parking lot, and then Amy Cook, David Garza, Dan Dyer and other locals honored hotelier Liz Lambert in the hotel courtyard. … On Monday morning, Ashton Kutcher wrote to his 4.6 million Twitter followers that he was “Headed to South by Southwest.” Later, ...

Mayor Lee Leffingwell welcomed the SXSW guests to Austin on Wednesday. I didn’t hear him do so. In fact, I’ve come to think of Leffingwell as our stealth mayor. He’s always on the job, always doing the city’s work, mind you. But I always just miss him, unlike his predecessor Will Wynn, who stuck around, soaking up the sunlight of Austin socializing. Erin and Michael Portman Just different styles, that’s all. The party — and the exchanges of vital SXSW information — still continued after Leffingwell slipped back into his no-nonsense office off the City Hall extension called the Mayor’s Balcony. ...

Heading from the amicable Fleadh Austin at the Fourth Street Fort to the more established, roped-off St. Patrick’s Day festival at Fourth and Lavaca streets, I passed SXSW guests bemused by this improvised Green Circuit. While the Fleadh was free, the tented fest outside Fado’s cost $15. Costumes, beads and funny hats proliferated. Erin Johnson and Caitlin Kuhn I encountered something unexpected for Austin: The closest we come to Irish toughs. Here were a couple dozen guys, bulked up, wearing the green like a dare, horseplaying early in the afternoon, but looking entirely capable of scuffling as the hours and the ...

We all need a little respite. My SXSW began Wednesday, March 10. By Wednesday, March 17, I was still on pace, not fatigued, but definitely slowing down. And SXSW Music had only just begun. Five more days to go. Sometimes, readers say to me: “I get tired just reading your column.” I get tired just reading about the 1,900 bands and 700+ sideparties during SXSW Music. There’s no way to pace that. I don’t even try. Anyway, after the Mayor’s Welcome, I toddled across the street with colleague Marcus Harper for appetizers at III Forks. Ideal respite. Key ingredient: The room was ...

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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 ...

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