Austin

I texted my friend Jeremy to let him know I rolled into town to see where I might meet him.

He gave me the name of a coffee lounge, Halcyon, that was mellow and social and in the middle of the action.

I drove downtown, and to my great surprise found street parking pretty easily within a couple of blocks. I took note of the various parking meter rules in the surrounding neighborhood since I was going to spend the better part of a week living on the street here.

When I arrived, it was still the interactive and film portion of SXSW. The music wouldn't get going officially for a few more days. So the parties and other events around town mainly catered to computer professionals. Big companies spend big marketing dollars renting out nightclubs and putting up party tents and temporary venues all around downtown. Often, in return for giving them an email address they can use to reach you, they'll invite you to a party with free music and drinks. These parties go on all over town all week long. There is a ton of branding going on here. But I found it fairly tolerable and avoidable.

Since I haven't been here before, I wasn't very savvy at how to find out about what events to attend and how to do it. But I had some time before the music festival, so I started doing my homework at Halcyon.

People at the coffee shop kept looking at me funny. One approached me and asked me if I had performed there in the past. I said "Nope." Later after chatting with the staff, I learned they all thought I was M. Ward, a popular singer that used to hang out there. In fact, even after I assured them I wasn't, I don't think they believed me, because they kept buying me drinks and food. I guess everyone has their eyes peeled for their favorite celebrities on this particular week.

Someone I met pointed me to a website that listed all of the music that would be playing around town. So I decided to scan the list of artists for things I knew would be good.

I spent about fifteen minutes scanning the entire list and scribbled down about ten or so artists I was interested in seeing. Each of those artists might be playing at a few different places around town, so I'd have to make a second pass to mark my calendar with dates and times.

But then I realized the list I just spent all that time on was only page one of twenty eight.

Holy cow. How am I going to get through all of this? It's amazing how many artists will be here this week.

Someone told me about a website that will automatically RSVP you for every party possible and then give you a pre-built calendar of stuff to do. But he showed me his calendar and there was so much stuff on there on any given hour that you still had to spend time studying it to pick something.

Right about then, Jeremy joined me and explained some pointers for dealing with SXSW and keeping your head from popping off.

1. Relax. You're not going to see everything you want to see so stop freaking out. Jot things down as you hear about them but don't spend all your time planning. Just explore.
2. Don't stand in any long lines to see shows. There is too much other stuff going on and you'll have a better time if you're enjoying it rather than waiting around.
3. Serendipity is a wonderful thing. SXSW is a great place to see artists you've never heard of. You wouldn't have planned to see them. But you might hear them just walking by somewhere. Go stumble on something.

So I spent the next several days doing just that.

Thankfully I brought my bicycle along on the road trip, because the festivities spanned a couple miles in every direction. Riding around also got me a great look at all of the neighborhoods and pockets around downtown.

I was immediately stunned by the sheer number of live music venues in this town. There are all shapes and sizes. Some are dive bars. Some are outdoor beer gardens. Some are fancy nightclubs with roof decks. Many are just restaurants and bars with a small stage on their patio, maybe one indoors as well.

And those are just the permanent music venues.

But during South-by (that's what the locals call it), even all those venues aren't enough. So folks start changing anything and everything into a music stage. The roof of a Whole Foods, a bicycle shop, vacant lots, street corners. I even saw one 5th floor balcony of an apartment building.

I don't think you could have this event in any other city. I can't think of any with this many venues per square mile.

Whenever I got chatting with an Austinite, I'd always express how amazed I am at how much music this town has and ask about what it's like other parts of the year. How can all of these stages be filled with musicians all the time? And how do you have enough people willing to pay to see all of them?

The general reaction was, yes of course our town loves and supports live music. Doesn't yours?

I think that, because of this music culture, everyday people on the street have a more refined taste in music. And that refined taste raises the bar for musicians to bring in an audience. Sort of like all the great inexpensive restaurants in San Francisco. You have to be good to get any customers.

Besides their music savvy, I found the local folks to be very cool people. They were generally eager to talk about what the town has to offer both culturally and naturally. Austin is a very pretty town, flush with lovely parks, natural green belts, lakes and rivers running right through town. There's plenty to do for active, outdoor types. They have their own version of hipsters and harder core cliques. They have all the comforts of a modern, progressive city, including plenty of yoga and vegetarian spots. But what stuck with me most is that people really love living in Austin. Their enthusiasm is rare. I feel it toward my home also. I find that type of enthusiasm to be the mark of a really great pace to live.

A couple of local people I met separately, Missy and Michael, offered to let me tag along with them on their respective south-by adventures. Michael even offered up his extra room so I wouldn't have to sleep in the van. I did stay with him one night, but it turned out to be kind of convenient to have my van parked so close to the action, so at the end of a fun evening I could just crawl in there rather than bike or cab several miles.

Here are some highlights of the week:

The Continental Club in South Congress was one of those places you could always go and know you'd hear something good. It's a pretty small place. During this week, they had a family out in back cooking great BBQ every night. I saw some great stuff there including Alejandro Escovedo, Big Sam's Funky Nation, and a Peter Case/Plimsouls reunion.

Missy turned me on to a great band from Los Angeles called The Belle Brigade, a brother and sister and band that sing upbeat folksy stuff with great harmony. I saw them a couple times. Once at Guero's Taco Bar which also had mouth watering tacos. They put pineapple on them. I'll have to try that back home.

Another pop up venue, San Jose, had a great line up for a few straight days. I caught LP, Dan Magnan, and Meshell Ndegeocello who were all great. LP is a young woman with a beautiful voice who reminded me a little of Roy Orbison.

One show I didn't want to miss this week was Allen Stone, a young soul singer from Seattle. I caught him once at Palm Door downtown. I knew he would be good, but I wasn't prepared for the great live show he put on. Amazing voice, and a great showman also.

I stumbled on a great little group called Nico Vega in a parking lot. I had actually ventured to the parking lot in search of a delicious falafel I got from a food truck called Kebabalicious. I Twitter'd them to find out where they were and found some great music to boot.

Sunset Promotions from the Bay Area threw a silent disco in The Enchanted Forest, a little piece of land in a suburb a few miles from the action. Attendees receive some wireless headphones that play music from two different DJs playing simultaneously. You can listen and dance to whichever one you like best. The headphones make it so you can have a reasonably quiet party without disturbing the neighbors too badly.

Whole Foods had a good line up the final Saturday including Quiet Company, OK Sweetheart, Rachel Yamagata, and Loquat. It was great to take a load off after a long week of pedaling around and dancing so much, and just relax to some great tunes.

All in all, I had a great time at SXSW and was really impressed by Austin.

The night before I left, Missy took me to a great little local pub called Whip In, a lively place where all kinds of locals mingle and drink beer and wine together.

For most of my stay, I didn't hear many Texas slang phrases. When I did, it would stick with me and I'd smile to myself - phrases like "Comin' through, honey", or "I'll tell you what..."

But the Whip In had a little chalk board with a phrase scrawled on it that, to me, summed up Austin in two words.

"Namaste Y'all."