REARviEw issuE / MAY 2007

SXSWorldThE OfficiAl MAgAzinE Of ThE sOuTh bY sOuThwEsT cOnfEREncEs & fEsTivAls

Public Enemy fight the power at SXSW 2007

MySXSW: A place for friendsStarting on Page 8

Cyberbullyies: Rubber or glue?Page 12

Understanding MumblecorePage 19

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ContentsTaking care of business

to business ........................................... 3

News & Notes ...................................... 7

MySXSW: 2007 in stories and images ... 8

Cyberbullying .................................... 12

News & Notes .................................... 15

MySXSW: 2007 in stories and images ..16

Understanding Mumblecore ............ 19

Harry Knowles’ Top 5 ........................ 21

News & Notes .................................... 23

MySXSW: 2007 in stories and images .... 24

SXSW Live .......................................... 31

Ed Ward and the Geezers .................. 33

Artists discuss SXSW showcase promotion ........................................... 35

Online Content Revealed .................. 36

Publishersroland Swenson, Nick Barbaro, louis Black

Editorandy Smith

Art DirectorJamie Miller

SXSW ContributorsMatt dentler, andy Flynn, Hugh Forrest, Una Johnston, Jarod Neece, Cathy ricks, Cathy ross, Craig Stewart, ron Suman, Mirko Whitfield, Scott Wilcox, luann Williams

SXSW 2007 Logo Design decoder ring design Concern

ContributorsBetsy aoki, Tim Basham, rW deutsch, Melissa Joulwan, Harry Knowles, Jeff McCord, John ratliff, Jenny Smith, ed Ward

MySXSW Storytellersrick Caine, ryan Carson, rob Corradi, liz danzico, vineet dewan, Paula Gould, randy Haecker, Peter Holsapple, Michael Jacobs, Min Jung Kim, Brad King, Kris Kovach, Jon langford, Cindy li, Gareth Mitchell, andrew loog oldham, Cecily rhett, Joshua Segars, andy Sheppard, annie Sundberg, Joe Swanberg, Michael Toland, Jason Toney, Neil Turley, Harris Tweed

AdvertisingWendy Cummings, Una Johnston, Katie King, Hillary Kerby, luann Williams

Volume 1, Issue 4

Our Cover in the midst of the group’s twentieth anniversary tour, Public enemy drew

20,000 people to the SXSW dew Music Festival at Town lake.

SXSWorld is published by SXSW, inc. four times per year at 1000 east 40th Street, austin, Texas, 78751. © 2007 SXSW, inc. all rights reserved. Subscriptions are provided annually with paid registrations to the SXSW Conferences. application to Mail at Periodicals rate is Pending at austin, TX. “SXSW” and “South By Southwest” are registered trademarks owned by SXSW, inc. For inquiries, email sxsworld@sxsw.com.

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SXSW MUSiC, UK & iRElANdUna Johnston, Cill ruan, 7 ard na Croise Thurles, Co. Tipperary irelaNdTel & Fax +353-504-26488, una@sxsw.com

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SXSW MUSiC, ASiAHiroshi asada, c/o rightsscale inc, 3F eBiSU-WeST, 1-16-15 ebisu-Nishi Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0021 JaPaNTel +81-3-5428-3923, Fax +81-3-5428-3962, contactus@sxsw-asia.com

SXSW AUSTRAliA, NEW ZEAlANd & HAWAiiPhil Tripp, 20 Hordern St, Newtown NSW 2042 aUSTraliaTel +61-2-9557-7766, Fax +61-2-9557-7788, tripp@sxsw.com

SXSWorld Edition / datE SPaCE rESErVation dEadlinE

SXSWorld review Edition / nov. 07 Sept. 28, 2007

SXSWorld Preview Edition / Feb. 08 Dec. 21, 2007

SXSWorld View Editions / March 08 Jan. 25, 2008Two onsite editions: Film/Interactive - March 9 and Music - March 14. Distribution at over 9,000 downtown hotel room doors and throughout the Austin Convention Center.

SXSWorld Rearview Edition / May 08 March 28, 2008

For inquiries, email sxsworld@sxsw.com. Visit sxsw.com/sales and sxsw.com/sxsworld for more information.

SXSWorld

STAKE YOUR ADVERTISING CLAIM IN SXSWORLD Only SXSWorld can claim an international readership of three converging industries - Interactive, Film and Music. With over 15,000 active and affluent industry subscribers, no other cross-industry trade publication can claim more than SXSWorld. If you want to stake your claim in a market with today’s top entertainment and technology professionals, SXSWorld is the one beacon you need.

The Official Magazine Of The SOuTh by SOuThweST

cOnferenceS & feSTivalS

SXSW 2008Interactive: March 7-11, 2008

Film: March 7-15, 2008

Music: March 12-16, 2008

Check sxsw.com throughout the summer for updates on next year’s festival.

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Taking care of business to businessA look at companies who are part of the SXSWorld

AcutrackBy Melissa Joulwan

Who doesn’t want instant gratification? acutrack, a full-service Cd and dvd manufacturer, provides on demand Production so musicians, filmmakers, software developers and instructors can have what they want, right when they want it.

acutrack’s “retail-ready” packages include Cd/dvd duplication, thermal printing, cases, digital print wrappers, assembly and polywrapping for orders as large or small as the artist needs, including just a single unit. run lengths of 10 copies or fewer, perfect for last-minute promotions or special projects, cost just $15 each.

acutrack also offers complete turnkey services that effortlessly guide customers through the entire manufacturing process, as well as custom work such as personalized Cd covers for an exclusive run or fanclub-only dvd releases.

acutrack’s seasoned experts in graphic design, photo-realistic printing, silk-screening, packaging, copy protection, video editing and fulfillment handle all the technical details for creative content developers.

Electric SheepBy John Ratliff

Science fiction writers have known for years that soon there will be little difference between how you interact with a “fictional” online environment (think Second Life) and a “real” one (think your local bank). electric Sheep, which develops software for integration with 3d virtual worlds, has staked out the territory on the border between the virtual and actual with impressive results, and as a result, was a focal point of this year’s ScreenBurn arcade at SXSW.

as the online economies of such MMorPGs (Massively Multiplayer online role-Playing Games) as Second Life begin to rival those of offline entities, navigating that territory is increasingly attractive to even staid traditional businesses. When they finally decide to boldly enter the world of avatar-based cyberspace interactions, they will find electric Sheep waiting there to assist them.

Adobe SystemsBy Melissa Joulwan

it’s a nice problem to have. once your products are the industry standard, where do you go from there? From Photoshop to illustrator to indesign to acrobat, adobe Systems incorporated has developed applications that are essential to the creative workplace.

Still, for better or worse, adobe never gets to rest on its laurels. Maintaining its position at the head of the creative multimedia software pack means dealing with a seemingly infinite number of variables, including the emergence of Flash animation as a favored online medium, apple’s switch to intel processors, and the gradually blurring boundaries between print, internet, mobile devices, video and film.

With the release of Creative Suite 3, adobe has reaffirmed its place as the linchpin of the creative software industry. By tightly integrating its various components for maximum efficiency and versatility, adobe aims to continue leading the way into the future of design.

Ironweed Film ClubBy Melissa Joulwan

like an activist Netflix, ironweed Film Club is a dvd service that delivers provocative, entertaining independent features and short films to the mailboxes of subscribers each month, introducing them to maverick filmmakers and bringing attention to social issues in the process.

The club is an offshoot of act Now Productions, a socially-conscious media company founded by adam Werbach, former national president of the Sierra Club. For a monthly fee, ironweed subscribers receive carefully curated films, which they are permitted to keep and are encouraged to share. Past titles have included Shakespeare Behind Bars, the story of prisoners who perform Shakespeare’s The Tempest and explore the play’s themes of redemption, as well as Blue Vinyl, an ironic exposé of the toxic history of vinyl siding. last year, ironweed featured Salt of the Earth, a 1950s film about a New Mexico miners’ strike which, due to its socialist message, became the only banned film in american history.

Post viewing, ironweed urges members to take action by hosting local screenings and engaging in the online community to, as they say, sound off on film, media and social change.

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Taking care of business to business

Infinite ResponseBy Melissa Joulwan

Traveling keyboard players face the dilemma of how to create their carefully-honed sounds on the road while their piano or B3 organ sits back at home, either too heavy or too precious to take on the road.

Handcrafted in austin by infinite response, the vaX•77 was developed specifically so that keyboardists would no longer be forced to choose between sound quality and portability. available in five colors with six different key action weights (from light B3 to muscular Steinway), the vaX•77 is a Midi controller that drives any synth module and seamlessly integrates with a laptop so that the musician never needs to touch the computer during a performance.

The vaX•77 folds in half to dimensions smaller than an electric guitar, so it will fit into just about any airline overhead compartment. it is also compatible with every brand of sustain and expression pedal available, so keyboard players can access all the nuances of their home instruments on the road.

TwitterBy John Ratliff

is it a stroke of obvious genius or just the logical next step in online interactivity? either way, Twitter is resonating like crazy with the digerati, a fact made abundantly clear at this year’s SXSW conference, where the company placed screens throughout the austin Convention Center so that its users could keep up with each other. and judging from the resounding buzz throughout the conference, keep up they did!

Twitter, which streams brief text updates from users – essentially, the answer to the question “What are you doing now?” to anyone who wants to see them. Though occasionally utilitarian (John edwards’ presidential campaign reportedly uses Twitter to update supporters), the service is primarily about diversion, at least for now.

Critics who bemoan the web’s destruction of privacy and attention spans are unlikely to embrace Twitter, but given the enthusiasm users showed for it at SXSW 2007, that doesn’t seem to matter at this point.

MusicIPBy Melissa Joulwan

Got the blues? Feel like dancing? MusiciP, founded in 2000, can dynamically generate a playlist to create the ideal soundtrack for any mood. MusiciP’s MydJ technology scans users’ music collections and builds playlists based on mood, energy, activity or type of sound. For consumers, it means relating to their MP3 players and song libraries in a new way. Users, in turn, post rave reviews on the company’s web site including “i’m on the verge of screaming ... it’s indistinguishable from magic ... “

But MusiciP offers breakthroughs for the music industry as well as consumers. MydJ can be licensed for handheld, auto and home electronics, and disney was among the first to use the technology with its kid-focused Mix Stick and Mix Max players.

and don’t forget the musicians! MusiciP’s goal is to “Know about all the music in the world,” and its service includes a database of 26 million fingerprinted audio tracks. recording artists can register tracks for free while keeping complete legal control of their songs.

SlackerBy John Ratliff

it is hard to argue that the iPod has been one of the most groundbreaking electronic devices in recent memory, and even established entities like Microsoft and Sandisk have had serious problems cracking the iPod’s dominance of the market for personal music players. So while at first glance, relative newcomer Slacker.com’s attempt to do the same thing may seem a little ambitious, that’s only the beginning of the company’s goals.

Taking a page from apple’s playbook, Slacker is intent on creating no less than an entire music “ecosystem” that incorporates jukebox software, a to-go player, and eventually satellite radio capability. The key selling point? each radio station is completely customizable, with listeners able to “ban” specific songs and indicate what styles of music they would like to explore further, much like Pandora’s Music Genome Project, which breaks music down into essential characteristics.

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Mastodon

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Ownyourc.com takes Best of Show honors at Web Awards

Deadlines

2008 panel proposals accepted beginning June 1

Want to hear what you missed at the 2007 SXSW interactive Festival? Click to the podcast page on sxsw.com to

hear full-length audio recordings of panel content from this year’s event. New content is added daily to this page,

so be sure to check back often. The podcast page is located at sxsw.com/coverage/podcasts/ – and don’t forget

to click on the “archives” link at the bottom of the page to get the full range of programming from the 2007

event. also, check out video clips from SXSW 2007 at sxsw.com/coverage/video/

News and Notes

SXSWclick is the year-round initiative created by SXSW interactive

and SXSW Film to showcase short-form storytelling via mobile

devices and the web. We are now accepting entries for the 2007

competition. entries must be under 10 minutes. deadline for

submissions is June 15. See sxswclick.com for more info on how

your next-generation content can be king of the small screen.

All mobile, all the time: Entries now accepted for SXSWclick

Podcasts from 200� Interactive Panels posted online

The most engaging panel

discussions are those

in which experts with

opposing viewpoints

engage in constructive

dialogue about a topic

relevant to the new media

industry. Do you have

a great idea for such a

session for next year? As

with the 2007 event, much

of the 2008 programming

will come directly from

ideas from the SXSW

Interactive community.

These panel proposals will

be accepted beginning

June 1; an updated version

of the SXSW Panel

Picker (allowing the web

community to vote on all

these submissions) will

go live later in the summer.

The complete details

on the 2008 panel

submission process will

be announced shortly on

sxsw.com/interactive.

Congrats to ownyourc.com, which won “Best of Show” honors at

the 2007 SXSW Web awards Ceremony on Sunday evening, March 11

at the downtown Hilton austin hotel. For a full list of winners, see

sxsw.com/interactive/web_awards/winners/. also, check out

the hilarious entertainment at this year’s event (as provided by emcee

Ze Frank as well as Kent and Douglas of AskaNinja.com) at

tinyurl.com/2�3gpv. SXSW will accept entries for the 2008 Web

awards beginning September 1.

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MySXSW

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Cindy Li

every SXSW i’ve attended, i have made great friends. That’s why i return each year. Unfortunately, sometimes people cannot attend for one reason or another, and they are missed even amongst all the other people. This year, we were missing Jon Hicks, Jessica Spengler and Kelly McCarthy, so Glenda Sims created a FlatHicks version of Jon, then Jessidoll and Kellydoll. These three characters attended ses-sions, parties and even panels. in some cases, they were the most popular “person” in the room.

A graphic / web designer living in San Francisco, Cindy Li runs the site designrabbit.com.

Gareth Mitchell

For me, the highlight of SXSW interactive was the dorkbot event on the Saturday night. dorkbots describe themselves as “people doing strange things with electricity” and that’s pretty much all you need to know. one bloke played classical tunes on Tesla coils straight out of the school physics lab, another did a full electronica gig with atari and Commodore soundcards strapped together. oh, and then there was Jerry Chamkis and his Kosmofone, a gamma ray detector plugged into a synth playing music from the stars. Hackers, mayhem and free beer – it doesn’t get much better than that.

Gareth Mitchell is the presenter of the “Digital Planet” program for the BBC World Service.

Jason Toney

i could say that my favorite experience of SXSW 2007 was speaking on a panel again or getting incensed at the speakers of a different panel, but the best overall experi-ence this year was, hands down, arriving late to the Buzzfeed party at Molotov lounge. We missed the Ze Frank performance and many of our friends, but we arrived with at least an hour left of open bar and dJ Juiceboxxx spinning records for ass-shaking. lynne d Johnson, Tiffany B Brown, anastasia Goodstein and i got to dance, meet an L Word cast member and drink our faces off. That’s SXSW - at any given moment, a dance party is threatening to break out.

Based in Los Angeles, Jason Toney serves as a web producer for Disney Online. He spoke on the “Blogging the Online Cultural Divide Panel” at this year’s event.

Above: Matt Mullenweg of WordPress talked about “Scaling Your Community” on Monday, March 12.

Above: Flat Hicks stands atop the hat worn by Cindy Li at the “From Tags to Riches” panel. Below: Dorkbot drew a huge crowd to Brush Square Park on Saturday, March 10.

Above: Internet celebrity Ze Frank hosted the 10th Annual SXSW Web Awards ceremony on Sunday evening, March 11.

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Min Jung Kim

There’s always something magical about seeing a wildly diverse group of smart professionals express themselves both personally and professionally while sipping beers and eating roasted animals. your head can break when you think about it. i’ve had the opportunity to discuss darth vader as the ultimate representative of lawful evil and then immediately slip into conversations about how companies like Suicide Girls, Threadless, dogster, and vampire Freaks are transforming their business models and marketing plans to mimic Starbucks’ evolution from coffee beans to a comprehensive media and lifestyle brand. you can’t get that experience anywhere else.

Veteran attendee Min Jung Kim of San Francisco organized the “How to Rawk SXSW” panel at this year’s event.

Liz Danzico

10am Monday, and i’m sitting onstage, facing an almost full room. No matter how much i’ve planned, i’m not sure the “Get Unstuck” panel will go well, even with this all-star group. We’re taking risks, trying out a group exercise with a roomful of 700 people. But 30 minutes later, things are super. There’s nothing better than a panel that can play off one another and read the crowd, as well as an audience with lots of smart questions. 50 minutes later, i’ve remem-bered why moderating a panel is one of the best experiences there is. Just hope i get to do it again next year.

Liz Danzico is the Director of Experience Strategy for AIGA. She moderated this year’s “Get Unstuck” panel.

Brad King

Panels that blend old and new media technologies are a tough sell for the digerati at SXSW interactive, but not for me. i showed up at the “Future of the Book” discussion and wasn’t disappointed. The internet archive’s Brewster Kahle passed around MiT’s $100 laptop, complete with The Owl and the Pussycat displayed on the crystal clear screen. Kahle said that the 150,000 public domain books in the internet archive will turn the laptop into an international book mobile for children around the world.

Brad King teaches new media at Northern Kentucky University and is the author of dungeons & dreamers, The rise of Computer Game Culture from Geek to Chic .

Above Left: Scheduled Friday evening, March 9, the second annual Mix at Six provided an exciting atmosphere for mingling. Above Right: On Saturday evening, March 10, registrants rekindled old connections and made new friendships at the frog design SXSW Opening Party. Left: Will Wright wowed attendees with an amazing demo of SPORE at his Tuesday, March 13 keynote speech.

Geeks from all over the world experienced some local Austin flavor at Nuclear Taco Night on Monday, March 12.

At their Keynote Conversation on Sunday, March 11, Limor Fried and Phil Torrone dissected the world of DIY technology.

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Ryan Carson

i was floored by the “Customer Service is the New Marketing” panel. The founder of Zappos.com really opened my eyes to what it means to really take care of your customers and go that extra mile to make them happy. it was a pow-erful session!

Ryan Carson is an entrepreneur and web advocate who has built two successful web applications: DropSend and Amigo.

Rob Corradi

This is the third time we’ve flown stateside for SXSW interactive, and the event continues to exceed our expec-tations. This year’s highlights would have to include Will Wright’s talk on interactive story-telling (a subject close to our hearts) and Ze Frank at the Web awards. Panels-wise, it seemed like it was the busiest yet with all the presenta-tions packed – a testament to the quality of the festival’s programming. on a final note, we can’t forget to men-tion the evening events, with the Fox interactive Media party getting our vote as the real rocker.

Rob Corradi is the Creative Director at the London-based new media firm preloaded.com. He spoke on the “Advergames: Making Your Brand More Fun” session at the 2007 SXSW Interactive Festival.

Joshua Segars

as a designer turned developer, i’ve felt like my creative side has been slipping for the past few years. “after the Brief: a Field Guide to design inspiration” with Jason Santa Maria and rob Weychert left me reinvigorated and full of, well, inspiration. Upon returning to the grind, i dropped my notepad for a sketchbook, armed myself with a pocket digital camera to document the creative world wherever i go and became a design vigilante. Has it helped? We’ll see at next year’s Web awards.

Joshua Segars runs Elemental Blend, a web design company based in Lubbock, Texas.

MySXSW

Below Left: Monday, March 12 Keynote Interview Dan Rather outlined his views on the failings of mainstream journalism. Below Right: Kyle Machulis explained the large potential of teledildonics at the popular “Sex & Computational Technology” panel on Sunday, March 11.

The all-star line up of speakers for the “Future of the Online Magazine” panel on Monday, March 12 included Salon editor-in-chief Joan Walsh.

Above: Attendees competed on a video game system installed in the trunk of a tricked-out Yaris at the first-ever ScreenBurn Arcade. Below: John Battelle of Battelle Media spoke on the “Why Marketers Need to Work with People Media” panel on Monday, March 12.

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In wake of the Kathy Sierra incident, blogging community debates responses to cyberbullyingBy Betsy Aoki

“Blog Queen” Betsy Aoki works for Microsoft and has been active with blogging both within the company and in the wild world of the blogosphere since 2003. The following essay represents her own opinions and not necessarily those of her employer.

n late March, we all had returned from South by Southwest changed – a little

jet-lagged, a little jazzed, and re-dedicated to our true callings whether they be computers, film or music. Perhaps that’s why what people referred to as “The Kathy Sierra Thing” seemed so especially shocking when it took the blogs and national press by storm. The online ripples

crossed political gender and industry lines as people fought to come to terms with what exactly had hap-pened to Sierra, noted author of the Creating Passionate Users blog, where she applies her expertise in cognitive science to programming and tech-nology-related issues.

OK, so the Opening Speaker for this year’s SXSW Interactive Festival had received death threats. But who were these bloggers she had named, and what was the story with the websites where the horrid sexually violent pictures and comments were located?

Sierra had quickly involved the police. Was she playing the drama queen or being grimly realistic when she cancelled her speaking engagements and holed up in her house?What about A-List bloggers Robert and Maryam Scoble (who also received some atrocious comments) taking a week off blogging to show solidarity with Sierra’s blog going dark? What about the fellow bloggers

who lent their efforts to the “Stop Cyberbullying Day” activities on March 30? When any bloggers shut up together (but are really loud about it), what is really going on?

Things started to make slightly more sense once Sierra and her longtime critic, Chris Locke, issued a com-plexly reasoned and well-thought-out joint statement in conjunction with their April 2 CNN broadcast. The statement came out against censorship and, as a result of new information, let the three initially-accused bloggers off the hook as the

culprits of the threats. The statement also showed that simply by commu-nicating, these two online adversaries had found common ground that might eventually help resolve the issue of online abuse. The question is: If they can, why can’t everyone else?

Then again, other events of April 2 verified what Sierra had feared all along, that threats of bodily harm

cannot just be ignored. Online, someone can’t know whether their tormentor is only a mis-guided kid using dad’s computer for “fun.” Or, if the person responsible is as dangerous as Jonathan Rowan, who shot and killed 26 year-old Rebecca Griego at her office at the University of Washington in Seattle. Griego’s murder occurred the same day as

Sierra and Locke’s CNN appearance, although few in the blogosphere noted the sadly ironic timing of this tragedy.

Just as stunned Seattle residents now must re-evaluate the systemic weaknesses that allowed the UW shooting to happen, we bloggers must re-examine how our culture allows online abuse to occur. And as supposedly innocent bystanders, we all have to ask ourselves right now, what part am I playing in this?

Well-intentioned Tim O’Reilly suggested evolving an Internet-

I

We bloggers must re-examine how our culture

allows online abuse to occur. And as supposedly

innocent bystanders, we all have to ask ourselves

right now, what part am I playing in this?

S X S W o r l d r e a r v i e W / M a y 2 0 0 7 13

wide “Blogging Code of Conduct” complete with badges to show how moderated/policed a site is. That, in turn, set off a huge anti-badge blog protest in support of free speech. Perhaps the only thing this proves is that you can’t get bloggers to agree on anything, even if they overwhelm-ingly disapprove of death threats. At this writing, O’Reilly is looking into changes as the debate evolves.

Perhaps the most effective strategy is to keep our focus closer to home. Some of the more powerful blog posts

on the issue of online abuse have been those where bloggers stood up and admitted to enabling the problem. When Robert Scoble announced his week-long blogging absence, he also said in the comments: “And, I’m sorry to others I’ve sat silently by as I’ve seen them attacked using sexual taunts. Shame on me. No more.”

Tara Hunt of Citizen Agency wrote about seeing Mena Trott of Six Apart heckled at a conference when she made a call for civility on the Internet. Hunt felt regret that rather than speaking out at the time, she let

it happen, later writing: “When we see personal attacks, we need to speak out. We need to tell the commentors and the people in the chat rooms that these statements are NOT okay. We can disagree with ideas but attacking people personally is NOT okay. If you have a ‘friend’ who is engaging in this type of activity, you have to tell that person it is NOT okay. What is not okay in real life is not okay in virtual life.”

Ultimately, what we need is a change in attitude. The movement toward a

better blogosphere and a better world starts at the individual level. Today, tomorrow, and the rest of your life, you get to decide if/how you will defend people that you see attacked, whether online or in everyday life. You must help overturn the prevailing blogging ethos that disagreeing with people’s ideas justifies attacking someone on a personal level. With your help, how we evolve in cyber-space could more closely resemble the forum for discussion, camaraderie and constructive disagreement that the online community creates annu-ally at SXSW. n

What is not okay in real life is not

okay in virtual life.

Threats received by 2007 SXSW Opening Speaker Kathy Sierra have forced the blogosphere to reexamine questions of hate speech and anonymity.

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A Code of Conduct?Technology leader Tim o’reilly, of o’reilly Media and the o’reilly Network, first proposed a blogging code of conduct in late March. Based in part on the Blogher Community Guidelines, his proposal stressed the following points:

1. Take responsibility not just for your own words, but for the comments you allow on your blog.

2. label your tolerance level for abusive comments.3. Consider eliminating anonymous comments.4. ignore the trolls.5. Take the conversation offline and talk directly, or find an

intermediary who can mediate any conflicts.6. if you know someone who is behaving badly, tell them so.7. don’t say anything online that you wouldn’t say in person.

While this code drew significant praise, many of the items o’reilly suggested also drew much criticism from the online community. Popular blogger Jason Kottke posted his disagree-ments with the proposed code on april 9. a keynote speaker at the 2006 SXSW interactive Festival, Kottke notes:

“i don’t want to take one bit of responsibility for someone else’s words. a person’s words are their own. By taking responsibility for them, you open yourself up to all sorts of problems, mostly legal in nature. Why should someone get sued for slander or libel because someone else posts some-thing on your site? ... [also] there has to be a mechanism for anonymous comments, even if they need to be approved before being posted. as the eFF says, ‘anonymous commu-nications have an important place in our political and social discourse.’ The missing piece in this discussion so far is: who’s going to police all this misconduct? Punishing the offenders and erasing the graffiti is the easy part ... fostering ‘a culture that encourages both personal expression and constructive conversation’ is much more difficult.”

Read about the latest modifications (and debates) surrounding the code of conduct proposal at blogging.wikia.com/wiki/BCC

14 S X S W o r l d r e a r v i e W / M a y 2 0 0 7

MEDIA PARTNERS:

Call For Entries Now Open!

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and a $10 entry fee.

To learn more and submit your film online, go to sxswclick.com

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If you’re the Grand Jury Prize winner you’ll receive a Mac Pro workstation, courtesy of iThentic, and get your film screened at SXSW 2008!

S X S W o r l d r E A r v i E W / M A y 2 0 0 7 15

News and Notes

Attention short filmmakers: June deadline announced

for SXSWclick entriesSXSW Alumniat a theater near you H The fourth annual

SXSWclick online shorts festival returns this summer. SXSW has created this event as a way to share some of the most original web-ready short films to audiences around the world. The winners of each category earn themselves a slot at SXSW 2008! visit sxswclick.com for updates; the deadline to submit a short film is June 15, 2007.

H Craig Zobel’s feature film, Great World of Sound, has earned a distribution deal with Magnolia Pictures. The film screened in the “Emerging visions” section of SXSW 2007, and will see a theat-rical release by Magnolia later this year!

H The winner of our SXSW/Grindhouse trailer competition, Hobo With a Shotgun, received a small theatrical run playing in front of the April release of Grindhouse in theaters across Canada. Why Canada? That’s the home turf of Hobo creator Jason Eisener.

H Maybe you missed some of the panel sessions or screening Q&A’s during the 2007 SXSW Film Conference and Festival? Never fear, because we’ve got you covered. The new-media team at SXSW has compiled and posted a dozen or so video highlights on our official website, sxsw.com. Everything from the panel sessions with Elizabeth Avellan and Morgan Spurlock, to the Q&A’s for The Ten and Bella to highlights from the “Blogging About Film” and “Sex Scenes Stay Hard” panels will be available.

Inside the Circle

And the Award goes to ...The 2007 SXSW Film Festival Awards were presented on March 13 at the Austin Convention Center. Winners included:

Billy The Kid documentary Feature Jury Award

Itty Bitty Titty Committee Narrative Feature Jury Award

Run Granny Run documentary Feature Audience Award

Skills Like This Narrative Feature Audience Award

The Price of Sugar Emerging visions Audience Award

Inside the Circle lone Star States Audience Award

Dirty Country 24 Beats Per Second Audience Award

Pop Foul reel Shorts Jury Award

Tragic Story With a Happy Ending Animated Shorts Jury Award

For the complete list of award recipients, go to sxsw.com/film/festival/past_winners/Congratulations to all the winners!

Skills Like This

The Price of Sugar

Run Granny Run

Dirty Country

Keep an eye out for these past SXSW selections as they arrive in theaters across North America (all dates subject to change):

MAY 18

Fay Grim (SXSW 2007),

The Wendell Baker Story (SXSW 2005),

Even Money (SXSW 2006),

Severance (SXSW 2007)

JUNE 1

Knocked Up (SXSW 2007)

JUNE 8

You’re Gonna Miss Me (SXSW 2005)

JUNE 15

Eagle Vs. Shark (SXSW 2007)

JUNE 22

Black Sheep (SXSW 2007)

JULY 20

Exiled (SXSW 2007)

AUGUST 3

The Ten (SXSW 2007)

AUGUST 10

The Signal (SXSW 2007)

AUGUST 17

King of Kong (SXSW 2007)

Michael Jacobs

i had heard so many positive things about SXSW and Austin that it was hard not to have extremely high expectations for my film’s premiere. Those expectations were exceeded by the warm embrace i felt from the audiences, industry people and other filmmakers. This embrace also extended to the accessible and inclusive atmosphere of the panels, parties, and various other events, and at the end of the week, it felt like i was part of a filmmaking collective.

Michael Jacobs is the Director of Audience of one.

Annie Sundberg

As a filmmaker, the festival brings an incredibly passionate and engaged audience. The festival is completely without pretense but with a lot of organization (the screenings started on time and were run with incredible efficiency), and the audiences are demanding and accepting all at once. The programming was filled with new discoveries from Europe and some of the best regional filmmaking i’ve seen. The festival also has a place - in a political/aca-demic film-going city - for politics in cinema. i arrived with a film about death in darfur, and the audiences were not only willing to drive through pounding rain storms to come see it, but they were also eager to get involved. We worked closely with a Sudan divestment group who had initiated a Texas legislative bill, and the combination was powerful. The bill passed unanimously, the Texas divest-ment vote was covered in local Tv during the festival, and the audiences who came to our screenings got the sense that films can make a difference.

Annie Sundberg is the Co-Director of The devil Came on Horseback.

Joe Swanberg

For three years in a row, SXSW has been the launching pad for my new work. A film is a delicate thing, and it needs to enter the world in a nurturing environment. SXSW shines a spotlight on personal American indie films like no other festival and gives them the attention they need to reach distributors and major media outlets. Matt dentler and the rest of the SXSW Film gang have gone so far out of their way to make me feel at home in Austin that i’m strongly considering packing up my bags and moving there!

Joe Swanberg is the Director of Hannah Takes the Stairs.

Photo caption for picture above

A Conversation with Elizabeth Avellan.

Above Left: Don Cheadle and Adam Sandler on the red carpet for Reign Over Me. Above Middle: Gregg Araki intros Smiley Face. Above Right: A Conversation with Bill Paxton.

Above: “Theatrical Acquisitions” panel. Above Right: “Guilds” Panel.

Below: Shia LeBeouf attends the Disturbia screening. Below Right: David Wain and Paul Rudd at The Ten Q&A. Right: James Blunt Q&A.

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A Conversation with Elizabeth Avellan.

Doug Pray on “Rock Docs” panel.

Above: “New Media Goes to the Movies” panel. Below: Alan Cumming, David Boreanaz and Karen Black Q&A.

Rick Caine

People ask, why SXSW? For us there is no other fest that is a cool and as much fun as SXSW. From sold-out screenings to contentious Q&As to cool panels and smokin’ parties with live music most festi-vals just dream about. And yes, we did business as well. As a result of making a splash at SXSW, we are being courted by distributors and have been invited to many other events, including about 30 international fests. Where we once were afraid that our film would disappear quietly, SXSW showed some guts and before you knew it the New York Times was writing about it. Cold beer, hot tunes and legendary Texas hospitality ... they really are nicer in Austin, and i have the hickies to prove it.

Rick Caine is the Co-Director of Manufacturing dissent.

Cecily Rhett

How lucky is a short film filmmaker who gets a call from lya guerra (SXSW Film Shorts Programmer)? in my case, so lucky that i was a true idiot on the phone, shocked to be invited to my first festival as a director. From that moment forward, the festival never let me out of its sight, sending information about passes, travel, hotels, press information, distributors attending etc. They’re like the agent you have in your wildest dream, where your dog talks and you can fly – but it’s a good thing.

Cecily Rhett is the Writer/Director of Forward.

Vineet Dewan

i was born in the Middle-East and lived in london, New york and now los Angeles ... my only exposure to Texas had been through Jr Ewing in Dallas and Tv coverage of Mr. Bush’s frequent visits to his Crawford resort. it’s Texas – didn’t they burn dixie Chicks albums here? “They’re going to hate my film,” i thought. i expected frosty glares from men in large hats with large belt-buckles and rush limbaugh bumper stickers on their trucks. As i was sent to the “special” security line at lAX on my outbound journey, i wondered if it would be better or worse if they would mistake me for being Mexican.

upon arrival, i quickly discovered a textured and cosmopolitan city that i had least expected. From “grand old America” to the flickering fluorescents down Film Noir-esque alleys, i came across a rare combination of the hip, the grungy and the refined stacked right on top of one another. At the SXSW screenings, they served meals in the cinema; instead of previews, they showed 16mm PSA’s from the 1970s. The local audience was savvy and diverse. oddly, i felt right at home; for me, it recalled Soho and Tribeca in New york, the West End in london and even the warmth and laid-back culture of the Middle East. Austin feels like a compact intersection of places i’ve known. “i could live here,” i said to my cinematographer on the last night of SXSW as we walked back to the hotel, leaving the sounds of live musicians behind as we stopped to admire a half-demolished building near a tree of theremin-squawking birds.

Filmmaker Vineet Dewan won this year’s SXSW REEL Shorts Special Jury Prize Award for Clear Cut, Simple.

A conversation with Richard Linklater.

Max Minghella, Will Geiger and Blake Lively attend the Elvis and Anabelle premiere.

The cast and crew from Everything’s Gone Green.

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S X S W o r l d r E A r v i E W / M A y 2 0 0 7 19

or many film fans, Hollywood has abandoned making movies in which

people, um, act and talk like the people they, you know, know. Much like the hip website Twitter, where users twitter away their time following random post-its of other twitterers, a group of films (all made by a group of friends), which unconventially depict the lives of today’s twenty-somethings, has captured the attention of critics and a growing number of fans.

These low-budget, often heavily-improvised films, dubbed “mumblecore,” have been characterized by various critics as “lacking narrative and closure” and “seemingly shapeless,” with the characters typically “aimless,” “awkward and inexpressive,” and the shooting style “unpolished,” – and those qualities are exactly what draws many people to them. More to the point, these filmmakers have been touted as descendants of Anton Chekhov and, most directly, John Cassavetes.

For the uninitiated, the mumblecore filmmakers include Aaron Katz, the Duplass Brothers (The Puffy Chair), Andrew Bujalski (Mutual Appreciation), and Joe Swanberg (Hannah Takes the Stairs). All are in their mid-twenties and are already developing a significant body of work.

“My main goal is to explore human relationships in the world around me in the most truthful way possible,” says Katz (director of Dance Party USA). “I don’t want to speak for

anyone else, but I think that’s very important to Joe and Andrew and the Duplasses, as well.”

“There are no rules we follow or pressure we place on each other to make certain kinds of work,” notes Swanberg. And their circle is constantly expanding, he adds: “Hopefully, it will eventually include every filmmaker who is a nice person and easy to get along with.”

Even though it was Bujalski who first gave the group its name (for which he “apologizes for loosing upon the world”), lumping them all together as a movement, he fears, may serve journalists and critics but also could be “dangerous for both makers and viewers, who at their best, aspire to transcend those contexts.”

“There’s no objective and there are no politics,” Swanberg adds. “There are just a bunch of us interested in exploring the people around us, and SXSW has made it a priority to showcase this work. Matt Dentler (SXSW Film Producer) has made an effort to create space in the program for personal American independent films that don’t belong at Sundance anymore.”

Indeed, over the last few years, almost all their films have either premiered or been featured at SXSW. Hannah Takes the Stairs not only premiered

at this year’s festival, but using fake outtakes from the film, was also cross-promoted through this year’s SXSW film trailers. And to prove it’s one big happy family, the movie also features acting performances from Bujalski and Mark Duplass.

“These selections represent fiction filmmaking in some of its most raw and uncompromising forms,” says Dentler. “They are not the kind of commercial films you’re going to see get a boost anywhere other than at film festivals. So, in a sense, we’re doing our job by giving these films a platform to

the world. Plus, it helps that we really enjoy these films and the stories, or lack thereof, that they tell.”

“SXSW is one of the only bigger festivals that takes chances on unknown filmmakers. That’s a reason it’s a good fit,” adds Katz. “Ever since graduating from college I’ve felt a real lack of community, but since SXSW 2006, that’s changed. It’s good to have a group of people who care about what you’re up to.” n

Mumblecore films find a home at SXSWBy RW Deutsch

FActress Greta Gerwig in a scene from Joe Swanberg’s Hannah Takes The Stairs.

“ My main goal is to explore human

relationships in the world around me

in the most truthful way possible,”

says Aaron Katz, director of Dance

Party USA and Quiet City.

20 S X S W o r l d r E A r v i E W / M A y 2 0 0 7

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S X S W o r l d r E A r v i E W / M A y 2 0 0 7 21

Harry Knowles picks his Top 5 Films from SXSW 2007Harry Knowles is the founder of Ain’t It Cool News.

The Devil Dared Me ToDirected by Chris Stapp

I was threatened with being banned from the Alamo Drafthouse forever, if I didn’t attend the world premiere of The Devil Dared Me To. I had no idea what to expect, but what followed was a hysterical cult wunder. This comedy about New Zealand stunties and their battle for respect and just doing the big jump is hilarious. Did you see Will Ferrell’s Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby? Well, Randy Cambell (Chris Stapp) is the real deal, sweeter, funnier and in a lot more danger. A perfect midnight film!

The Signal Directed by David Bruckner, Dan Bush and Jacob Gentry

Directed by three talented directors from Atlanta, Georgia, this original indie horror film is ever so slightly ahead of the curve, as right now both Eli Roth (Stephen King’s Cell) and M. Night Shyamalan (The Happening) are preparing similarly-themed horror movies. But these young talents struck first with the idea of the world

waking up insane, as if a homicidal switch could be flipped in our brains. The film follows an intimate love triangle struggling to survive in a world gone literally mad. I’ve been describing it to friends as, what 28 Days Later was to George Romero’s Zombie series ... The Signal is to Romero’s The Crazies.

I’m a Cyborg but That’s OKDirected by Park Chan Wook

Had you told me that I’d have two films that I loved as much as, if not more than this one, I would have called you a liar, but that’s just how strong the programming was this year. I consider Park Chan Wook the best director working today. His films: J.S.A., Sympathy For Mr Vengeance, Oldboy and Sympathy For Lady Vengeance are stunning. In a world that has lost its love of psycho-logically-thematic violent opuses, his works are almost like operas without the singing. This film is Park’s first non-Vengeance-themed film and has left some scratching their heads, but it left me deep in love. A love story set in an insane asylum in Korea, the film is as sweet as anything Jeunet has created and every bit as surreal.

The Devil Came on HorsebackDirected by Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg

A documentary on Darfur was not what I meant to be seeing on the afternoon I happened upon this film as an after-thought, but what a lucky break! Genocide is a word that is mostly written in history books by people that usually weren’t able to

stop it. The Devil Came On Horseback is a film documenting a genocide in progress right now, and one man named Brian Steidle who is trying valiantly to get the world to pay attention. The film is especially brutal because it underlines how we humans have lost our ability to stop evil from happening. This is an incredibly important documentary. If you’re a festival, program it. If you’re a politi-cian, listen and take action.

Monkey WarfareDirected by Reginald Harkema

From time to time, you stumble onto a film that is so refreshing and so on target with who you are that you are just blown away. Reginald Harkema’s Monkey Warfare feels impossibly cool, making garage sales, eBay, and living off the radar of the government seem like the way to live. It makes Canada seem cool. I love that this film takes its heart from Godard while chal-lenging Tarantino for the king of cool. I love the beat this film has and the way it moves while it tells its story. It is the sort of film that makes you want to see everything by the same filmmaker for the rest of his or her career, no matter how off target they may become in the future. And it was fitting that I see that film at the Alamo Drafthouse at SXSW in Austin, Texas. Another great experi-ence in my favorite town! n

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You can believe this hypeThey may be celebrating their 20th anniversary this year, but when Public Enemy ascended the Town Lake Stage at the SXSW Dew Music Festival on Friday, March 16, their incendiary power completely enthralled the crowd of thousands packed along Austin’s Auditorium Shores and had artists two decades younger taking notes. Sure, they blazed through classics such as “Bring the Noise,” “Can’t Truss It” and the Flava Flav staple “911 Is a Joke,” but this was no mere blast-from-the-past performance. Chuck D and Flava Flav made clear that their political convictions are as strong and urgent as ever. Their rebukes of the current government and the Iraq war, culminated with a mass chant of “F***K George Bush” loud enough to have made the folks up at the Texas Capitol feel a tad nervous.

News and Notes

H A piece of the Norway music scene arrived at SXSW this year during the Øyafestival/Oh My Rockness showcase. In front of a sold out crowd, three of Norway’s finest acts (New Violators, Lionheart Brothers, and DATAROCK) battled it out with some of the U.S.’s most buzz-worthy acts, including Cloud Cult, Ra Ra Riot, and The Ponys. NME recently listed New Violators and Ra Ra Riot as two of the top ten acts from SXSW, and The Ponys, Cloud Cult and DATAROCK are currently com-pleting worldwide tours.

H Polyvinyl releases Not Worth Fighting, a 7” from Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin at the end of May. There is no word on whether it will contain a free drink coupon in honor of the recently deceased former Russian leader.

H The latest editions from past SXSW faves Ian Hunter (Shrunken Heads) and Nick Lowe (At My Age) will be at your local music store during May and June via Yep Roc. While you are waiting, check out Are We Not Horses from Rock Plaza Central, who rocked this year’s Yep Roc showcase.

Norway vs. U.S., Boris Yeltsin and more Yep Roc new releases

Want to be a part of SXSW 2008?We’ll start accepting showcase applications in late August, with application deadlines in mid-October if you live outside the U.S., and

the end of October for U.S.-based artists. Once again, the entire process will be electronic all the way from the initial online application

to uploading MP3s (you can submit three) and press kits. That’s right, all you need is a computer and an Internet connection, so you can

save on postage, stress and time. Begin checking our website, sxsw.com, in August for details.

There’s more to do than just register at sxsw.com/music

SXSW 2007 may be over, but we’re still working, so fire up your browser and click over to our website to:

H Read the latest music industry buzz in The Daily Chord

H Watch Music Conference video panels you may have missed

H Listen to some of the great music being made by artists who played SXSW 2007

H Check out tradeshow presenters

H Continue networking with agents, managers, publicists and label registrants, as well as artists, through our Online Registrant Directory

H Treat yourself to that SXSW t-shirt you forgot to buy

S X S W O R L D R e A R V I e W / M A Y 2 0 0 7 23

DATAROCK New Violators The Ponys

Left: Chuck D lets us know how he really feels about our current political situation. Photo by Dustin Downing.

Kris Kovach

While preparing to interview Peaches for Studio SX this year, I thought I’d better bust out the brass brassiere for this one, so I quizzed my straight friend Dee, a big Peaches fan, about what she’d ask her if given the opportunity. Dee surprised me by firmly stating, “I’d ask her to marry me!”

During the interview, in the bright, hot Plexiglas box on the SXSW trade show floor, I tossed my stack of lame index card questions in the trash and proposed on behalf of my hot friend.

Leaping from the chair where she was coiled, Peaches slammed against the clear confines and bellowed: “WHeRe is SHe???? Bring her up HeRe!!” The crowd parted and Dee emerged, clutching her breast like a pageant hopeful, blushing and gasping in disbelief.

Next, in an “Only-In-Texas” moment, a sweet-faced woman with a baby on her hip walked up. An ordained minister, she gamely agreed to officiate the impromptu ceremony. White feather boas were produced to be wrapped around Dee’s neck and tucked as a “ bustle” in the backside of her miniskirt.

I didn’t really get an official interview question asked or answered in all the excitement, but Studio SX did its part to challenge the sexual status quo, which seems to be Peaches’ life mission anyway, so Amen to that, y’all.

Kris Kovach works for Penny Purse Productions.

Michael Toland

Knowing that I would miss Robyn Hitchcock’s main showcase, I made a point to catch his set at the Day Stage in the convention center. I’ve seen him many times before and knew what to expect, so I saw this as just a way to pass a pleasant half hour. I was wrong, though – instead of his usual acid pop musings, Hitchcock accompanied author/producer Joe Boyd. As Boyd would read excerpts from his autobiography White Bicycles, Hitchcock would perform a period-relevant song. Hearing Hitchcock perform songs by Nick Drake, Syd Barrett and the Incredible String Band as enhancement to Boyd’s fascinating stories was an unexpected treat.

Michael Toland is the Editor of High Bias LiveJournal.

MySXSW

Peaches gets married during her interview at Studio SX.

Left: Slash, Tom Morello, Nuno Bettencourt and Perry Farrell have a sing-a-long at the Parish. Above left: The Tamale Kingpin Chingo Bling. Above: Badly Drawn Boy at Stubb’s.

Above: Amy WInehouse, far from rehab. Below: Jamie T at Stubb’s

Above: Peter, Bjorn & John at La Zona Rosa. Below: Ghostland Observatory at La Zona Rosa.

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Randy Haecker

exiting Stubb’s, I next headed for the nearby elysium, a long-running goth club in which I saw Skinny Puppy and Revolting Cocks in my misspent youth. I arrived in time to catch the last two songs by Bird, a group fronted by Mark Burgess of the ‘80s band the Chameleons. His swirling, hypnotic brand of shoegaze rock captivated, and the warm reception from the audience seemed to have made his long trip from Hamburg worthwhile.

Another longtime veteran of the rock wars was up next, Hugh Cornwell, the former vocalist of the Stranglers. Since leaving the Stranglers in 1990, Cornwell has continued to tour and has recorded a string of solo albums, the most recent being 2006’s People Places Pieces. Shortly after arriving on stage past midnight, Cornwell recalled his first and only previous time in the city. “Austin, you’ve changed,” he said. “When I was last here in 1980 there were no tall buildings.” Cornwell was referring to the Stranglers’ 1980 gig at Club Foot, a time when the first song from his SXSW set, “No More Heroes,” was fairly new and winning fans in the States.

Randy Haecker is a Publicist for Sony/Legacy.

Neil Turley A few short minutes into the panel, someone in the back accidentally switched off half the lights. Rather than accept the apology as a disturbance, Perry Farrell, being the artist that he is, embraced the opportunity to start reducing our environmental impact in that moment. The 50% reduction in light during the presentation not only reduced our footprint by demonstration but also changed the atmosphere, making it more comfortable for everyone in the room. It’s amazing how as a society, we deliver what we think is appropriate, and we accept what is provided for us without question. It struck me during this panel how important it is for us to communi-cate and use creative solutions to reduce our impact….to question the industry standards. Do we really need all that light?

We also talked in detail regarding SXSW’s move toward sustainability in 2007. Una Johnston spoke eloquently of the methodology behind going carbon neutral not just as an event but as a global organization. I helped the audience to understand the ever-confusing world of carbon management, (ReC’s) Renewable energy Credits, and carbon offsets. Rick Farman, of Bonnaroo, showed us that we have power with our events to facilitate change by insisting that vendors utilize innovative technologies. It was amazing to see the not only repre-sentatives from the largest festivals in the country but the founders, Chief Operating Officers and other leaders all present and looking to make a difference. We had folks from SXSW, Capital Sports entertainment, Superfly Productions, Xingolati, Lollapalooza, Bumbershoot, and Telluride Bluegrass festival. We thank everyone for their participation and look forward to changes to come.

Neil Turley moderated the “Greening the Entertainment Industry Panel.”

Former Strangler Hugh Cornwell at Elysium. From left: Perry Farrell, Rick Farman, Una Johnston and Neil Turley.

Above: Isaac Hayes in the house at the Stax 50 Revue. Below: Somewhere below him are the rest of the Riverboat Gamblers.

Above left: GO!GO!7188 at Japan Nite. Above right: Blonde Readhead at Emo’s. Below left: UGK heat up Thursday night. Below right: Satellite Party featuring Perry Farrell at Stubb’s.

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MySXSWAndrew Loog Oldham

I decided to treat myself to a “busman’s holiday” this year by coming again to SXSW, a kind of reward for having finished my third book. I got asked to join Michelle Phillips and Lou Adler on the panel celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. That was a joy and a jog for the mental suitcase as to how far we have come and not come in 40 years. I saw Pete Townshend speak and he gave of the truth that we are denied from world leaders of other domains. Pete was forthright and on. His musical night with Rachel Fuller was full of past, present and promise. My old mate Gruff Rhys was at SXSW in fine solo form. How many acts take the stage with table and props? Gruff does and remains a happy magician showing us his tricks, be they solo or furry. Freakiest act I saw was the Japanese band, Pistol Valve, A-fun in B-movie mode. It’s the diving about I enjoy, running into old faces and meeting new ones. Speaking of faces, I met up with Ian McLagan who’d sent me an e-mail saying that it was time we stopped living in the past with each other. We met, hugged and moved into the now. I’m glad about that and I’m glad about SXSW because after all these years it’s still serving up hope, bands and data. Well done!

Noted author and SIRIUS Satellite Radio DJ, Andrew Loog Oldham was the Rolling Stones’ manager and producer from 1963-1967 and was part of the“Monterey Pop at 40” panel.

Paula Gould

I got off the plane late on Thursday and raced with luggage and laptop to see The Ponys at emo’s Jr., then met up with the Music.com crew. For the next several days our nights were filled with music and movement, beer and salted meats and congratulatory cheers before ending with the sunrise. Saturday’s shows seemed to res-onate best with me, Kings of Leon at Stubb’s and Oslo, playing somewhere on 6th, standing out most among them. The night sky was warm and open to us, and the rooms full and driven, with the bands invigorating the audience and audience reciprocating the energy. We didn’t plan out every moment of our day and night, nor race frantically from showcase to showcase. We simply happened upon many great performances and people, sharing moments with friends, old and new, running into many serendipitously. SXSW is great that way.

Paula Gould works for Music.com.

Montreal’s Besnard Lakes at the Mohawk’s Patio.

Above: Mastadon shred at Dew Music Festival. Below: That’s Lily Allen.

Above: Mika delivers a pop smartbomb. Below left: Daniel Johnston beats the devil. Below: Cold War Kids at La Zona Rosa.

Above left: Boris’ gong show. Above right: Cris Kirkwood, back in action with the Meat Puppets at Emo’s. Below: Cardiff’s The Automatic.

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Andy Sheppard

During their rare acoustic performance on the SXSW Day Stage, Scott Rinning and Ramsay Miller, the two front men from Glasgow’s The Cinematics, had explained that their career began busking on the streets of Glasgow, and that when they were feeling adventurous, they would feature the late Jeff Buckley’s rich and complex music with Rinning also explaining Buckley’s great influence on them. Then as a finale, the pair performed a haunting, pitch perfect rendition of Buckley’s “Grace”.

As the lads stepped off the stage, they were approached by two ladies, one of whom introduced them to the other: Mary Guibert, mother of Jeff Buckley. It took just a split second for the enormity of what this meant to register.

Guibert stood calmly, beaming at the two, before saying that their performance had made her shudder and stop in her tracks. Rinning was so overwhelmed that he had to disappear to the dressing room while Miller composed himself and continued chat-ting. Guibert expressed her appreciation of how artists and fans are managing to keep Buckley’s spirit alive and strong.

Andy Sheppard lives in London, England.

Jon Langford

Saturday night at the Red eyed Fly for the Bloodshot showcase and as usual, The Waco Brothers have been chosen for that precious 1:00 am spot. I’ve spent half the night outside trying to get drunk friends in, but with the line down the street, the guy on the door is unim-pressed at the number of “wives” we have with us tonite. Once we get onstage, all is well and things get pretty lively; it’s a bloody long road from a KUT session at 11:00 am to where we are now, but we’re still firing on several cylinders. I’m sure we’re running overtime, so Deano and I commence the big guitar smashing, string-snapping finale of destruction only to see the stage manager (digits aloft) gesturing 10 more minutes ... Oops, disaster! But just at that moment, Danbert Nobacon (late of Chumbawumba) dives onstage in a gleaming white elvis suit complete with cape to save the day and lead us through a rousing annihilation of “Folsom Prison Blues.” Next day on South Congress, some bloke asks me how we got Graham Parker to dress up in that elvis suit ...

Jon Langford is a member of the Waco Brothers and a founding member of the Mekons.

The Cinematics at Flamingo Cantina. Above: My Brightest Diamond at Antones. Above right: The undeniable Sharon Jones and her Dap-Kings. Below: Mexico’s Allison strikes a pose.

Above: Kid Koala tweeking at the Parish. Below: Flaming Arrows Mardi Gras Indians!

Below Left: The Watson Twins at Central Presbyterian Church. Below right: MuteMath and the long-awaited return of the Key-tar.

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MySXSWHarris Tweed

On the whole I’d have to admit that our week at SXSW was absolutely overwhelming – there was way too much to take in, just too much to experience. But it was equally enriching for us as a band. The excess of stimulus left us feeling completely incapable of making even simple decisions during the week of the festival. But on our return home, the experiences have been converted into inspiration. We are now even more desperate than ever to get better at what we do, to create beautiful music, to experiment and push boundaries, and to work as hard as it takes to make music all we ever have to do (if we so choose.) So really, I guess you can say we’re just plain grateful for the opportunity to be there.

Harris Tweed is from Cape Town, South Africa and was one of the first two South African artists to showcase at SXSW this year.

Peter Holsapple

This SXSW was another lovely confab of old friends, new acquaintances and great music. I was proud to sit next to Donovan at the BMI songwriters’ panel and be regaled by tales of Swinging London. I enjoyed seeing kids playing in the Lego morass at the bottom of the escalators. I danced to the brilliant music of Seth Lakeman and his amazing group (and finally got to shake hands with his talented brother Sean who’s been a penpal for years). I cruised through Flatstock, amazed at the phenomenal talent in the poster world today. Mostly, I was thrilled to see that so many of the folks that I ‘came up with’ in this business are still at work, trying to get good music to unsuspecting ears, be they musi-cians, writers, publicists or managers…

Peter Holsapple is a founding member of the dBs and has also played with REM and the Continental Drifters.

Pete Townshend and Rachel Fuller at Attic Jam. Above: Austin’s Spoon at the Merge showcase. Below: TIlly and the Wall on the Beauty Bar Patio.

Above: Mumm-Ra preaches at Red 7 Patio. Below: PPT at the packed all-Dallas hip hop night at Visions.

Below: The Good, The Bad & The Queen.

Above: Rickie Lee Jones slays at the Parish. Below: Some guy from the Stooges.

Above: Brighton’s Pipettes at the Beauty Bar Patio.

Above: Chicago’s Maps & Atlases at Emo’s Lounge. Below: Ozomatli at the Dew Music Festival.

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NESTLED INTO THE SLEEPY COASTAL TOWN OF NOSARA, COSTA RICA, 40 MILES FROMTHE NEAREST PAVED ROAD, HIGH STANDARDS OF SUSTAINABLE LIVING MEET THECREATURE COMFORTS OF LOW KEY BEACH LIFE AT THE HARMONY HOTEL.

The open air restaurant at the Harmony is a stylish but casual atmosphere that draws upon 70’s surf culture,brazilian modernism, and old school tropical resorts. Taking its cue from a harmonious way of living, thekitchen cooks up local organic seafood, fruits, and vegetables. This means a menu of options flavored bythe exotic likes of wild ginger, taro, banana, plantains, mango, coconut and of course, black beans and rice.

www.harmonynosara.cominquiries@harmonynosara.com

506.682.4114

S X S W O R L D R e A R V I e W / M A Y 2 0 0 7 31

hen Pete Townshend went off on a mini-rant during his SXSW Music

keynote appearance about streaming music over the Internet (“We want it live!” he roared), he was inadvertently advertising the Blaze TV-produced SXSW Live Broadcasts, which were actually in progress as he was speaking. The broadcasts, which Blaze TV managing director Conor McAnally describes as an attempt to “share a microcosm of the festival with the viewing audience across all media,” would go on to impress even the most media-savvy of registrants – including Townshend, who on his blog (www.petetownshend-whohe.blogspot.com) later pronounced SXSW Live “a slick and professional high-budget TV production that really set a new standard for SXSW.”

One rave review from a rock legend does not a business model make, but Townshend wasn’t the only one singing the praises of SXSW Live. “Everyone who’s seen it has been enormously impressed,” says McAnally. Though there were a few support and logistical hiccups – the cost of building a studio practically overnight in the Austin Convention Center was “inordinate” – overall the project was a roaring success. Not bad for a first shot at converting the ephemeral nature of live performances into media accessible via the web (through Grouper.com), mobile devices (through Verizon), satellite radio (through XM), and live TV simulcast (through DirecTV).

“The key thing is to find a way to share the extraordinary performances that SXSW offers while not interfering with the ... nature of the event,” says McAnally, and to that end Blaze TV will be adding digital film to the mix as part of an ambitious plan to replicate the SXSW Live experience

in multiplex theaters nationwide. McAnally envisions a scenario in which viewers would buy one ticket and then move among several theater screens, each playing a different set of performances by different artists, similar to how conference registrants move freely from venue to venue. “The idea is that a punter buys a ticket and gets two hours of SXSW,” says McAnally. Whether theatergoers will embrace being presented with several options at the same time is an unanswered question, but Blaze TV is test-marketing the idea in Boston, Nashville and Dallas over the coming year to find out.

Regardless of the results of that venture, one thing is certain; SXSW Live will again be a part of SXSW next year. McAnally hopes that even more artists will queue up to perform now that they have seen how well it went for those who did (artists included Rickie Lee Jones, Razorlight, Lee “Scratch” Perry, The Buzzcocks, Ozomatli, Mando Diao and many others). “In terms of the promotional value, the two hours they spent with us was well spent,” he says.

It is not often that you get your demands met just by walking from one end of a building to the other, but in the case of Townshend’s heartfelt plea for broadcast-ready live music, Blaze TV and SXSW Live have the ready answer: Got live if you want it! n

Blaze TV plans a bright future for SXSW LiveBy John Ratliff

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From top: Set-up for a show at the Bat Bar, one of two state-of-the-art SXSW Live stages;

Razorlight; The Buzzcocks; Lee “Scratch” Perry.

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NESTLED INTO THE SLEEPY COASTAL TOWN OF NOSARA, COSTA RICA, 40 MILES FROMTHE NEAREST PAVED ROAD, HIGH STANDARDS OF SUSTAINABLE LIVING MEET THECREATURE COMFORTS OF LOW KEY BEACH LIFE AT THE HARMONY HOTEL.

The open air restaurant at the Harmony is a stylish but casual atmosphere that draws upon 70’s surf culture,brazilian modernism, and old school tropical resorts. Taking its cue from a harmonious way of living, thekitchen cooks up local organic seafood, fruits, and vegetables. This means a menu of options flavored bythe exotic likes of wild ginger, taro, banana, plantains, mango, coconut and of course, black beans and rice.

www.harmonynosara.cominquiries@harmonynosara.com

506.682.4114

32 S X S W O R L D R e A R V I e W / M A Y 2 0 0 7

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S X S W O R L D R e A R V I e W / M A Y 2 0 0 7 33

The Cranky Geezer’s Guide To Surviving SXSWBy Ed Ward

song I heard sung a lot at this year’s SXSW was “I’m getting too old for this. I

don’t know if I’ll do it next year.” And although several of the folks making this complaint were younger than I am, I had some sympathy, having sung a variation of it myself from time to time.

There were way too many bands on the program, and, from what I could hear, a lot were treading familiar ground, which I think represents the state of contemporary music pretty accurately. I’m sure there were new bands worth hearing, but, like a lot of cohorts my age, I’m not inclined to download a bunch of MP3s to find them. Plus, lots of the ones with the biggest buzzes were on at midnight or 1:00 am, which, these days, is too late for me.

But, as the folks who run SXSW are always at pains to point out, it’s a pro-fessional event, not a consumer one, which, to me, means that the panels and interviews are an equal attrac-tion to the nighttime revels. Maybe it’s because I’m a former SXSW panels coordinator myself, but I seem to spend a lot more time indoors during the day than a lot of my fellow attendees. The lure of fighting for free beer and food in the middle of the afternoon has paled, and the attrac-tion of learning a little more about a business which seems to be going over Niagara Falls in a barrel wins out.

To me, the question comes down to deciding whether SXSW is geezer-friendly or if geezers are SXSW-friendly. You may feel as cynical as I do about a panel on the convergence of mobile phones and portable music players (yes, apparently TDK – Those Damn Kids! – really do listen to music on their phones), but I was riveted by

the “Idiots Unite” panel, in which a bunch of young music business types tried to figure out what the hell is going on in their business. Two additional pluses were the presence of fellow geezer Seymour Stein, and the fact that this discussion had started as a blog. I had no dog in this particular fight, but I was fascinated – and somewhat comforted – to see that these people were as lost as I was about what was happening, as well as offering ideas for moving forward.

One of the more positive recent developments at SXSW has been the rise of the interview. The subjects are almost always older folks, musicians or not, yet these events seem to draw plenty of TDK as well as geezers. I was lucky enough to be able to lead one this year, with Joe Boyd, one of my heroes and a very important figure in rock history. (And for your

totally false geezer/TDK dichotomy, howzabout Iggy Pop, who’s older than I am but still impossible to think of as old?)

If you spend the days catching up, you also shouldn’t feel bad about using the nights to slide back. I’ve found that leaving the pursuit of the flavor of the week to TDK (while still responding to fervent recommenda-tions from trusted members of their tribe) is liberating, because catching up with stuff you have always wanted

to see is much easier than you think. For instance, I was intimidated by the line for the Stax 50th Anniversary show, but I not only got in, but found the place full but uncrowded – and the chance to see Booker T and the MGs live was totally worth the wait. The Ponderosa Stomp preview and its parade of history is another SXSW

event I hope becomes a tradition. There’s always a slew of talent that has nothing to do with the Next Big Thing, and I appreciate that.

My advice is simple: do your business at SXSW, but give yourself enough slack to learn and be entertained. But do it at a leisurely pace; at your age, you’ve earned it. Let TDK suffer the heartburn and hangovers. They’ll survive, and so will the music that we all come to Austin to celebrate in all its diversity. n

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Jon Dee Graham and Ed Ward

One of the more positive recent developments

at SXSW has been the rise of the interview. The

subjects are almost always older folks, musicians

or not, yet these events seem to draw plenty of

TDK (Those Damn Kids!) as well as geezers.

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Self-reliant promotion is key for showcasing artistsBy Tim Basham

or many an artist, just being selected to showcase at SXSW ranks as a major

accomplishment. “We were super stoked. As an independent band taking pot shots at the world it was really exciting to have something like SXSW come through for us,” says David Moffatt, guitarist/vocalist of The Dirty Skirts (one of two South African bands at this year’s conference). “It would be our first international festival.”

But being chosen is only the begin-ning if an artist wants to ensure a successful “launch” during SXSW. In addition to the normal logistical matters like securing airfare and hotel rooms, an overseas artist can encounter special challenges. In the case of U.K. band Kava Kava, getting the proper permission to leave the country was tough enough. “Visas were the main shocker,” says singer and frontman Pat Fulgoni who doubles as the band’s manager. “I could only get four out of six visas, so we had to train up a new drummer and saxophonist.”

Even then, all the effort to simply get to Austin can become meaningless if no one hears you play. The trick is finding how to successfully promote a showcase.

“Everybody makes the flyers,” says singer/songwriter and SXSW veteran David (dah-VEED) Garza, who has run the gamut from handing out cassettes to major label success to producing CDs on his own label. “But everyone’s flyers are covered over

within two to three hours. You do them anyway because it’s kind of a gut reaction. You make postcards. You pass them out. You have to trust someone to promote you.”Garza’s manager, Gil Gastelum, believes it helps to go to the panels at the SXSW Conference portion of the festival. “Study that music reference book you get at registration and see who is there,” he says. He feels that artists can still promote well without having a manager: “Artists without representation have a lot more freedom to go out there and build a D.I.Y. story. Be ready to talk about yourself as an artist.”

At SXSW 2007, Scottish sensation Paolo Nutini was part of the huge Esquire showcase at Stubb’s BBQ that also included The Stooges, Spoon and Kings of Leon. Profile-wise, Nutini had quite the opposite introduction at his first SXSW a year prior.

Having just signed with Atlantic, Nutini had a management team in place even though his first full-length album was months from being released in the U.K. and a year away from its American release in 2007. “We basically called all our friends,” says Paolo’s co-manager Mike Luba of Madison House.

But now that his album These Streets is an international hit, that early SXSW appearance becomes the stuff of legends. “It’s ironic now, but I talk to people all the time who say that

they first saw him at SXSW that year,” says Luba. “And I know for a fact that almost no one saw him. More than anything, the power of SXSW for Paolo wasn’t so much what happened here but what it said to everyone back home. It’s like this mythical thing. NME and Q picked it up. We got real press on that side.”

But for the artists who feel the need to do it all themselves, Garza expresses concern about where they put their focus. “What makes it sad is a lot of musician friends spend more time designing their own websites and updating their MySpace,” he says. “They spend more time doing that than writing songs and actually practicing their instrument, becoming a better musician and bringing some-thing new to the world” with what he calls “the language of music.”

And with some 1580 artists from around the world all playing during a hectic few days, getting heard – in any language – is the reason for being at SXSW in the first place. n

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“Study that music reference

book you get at registration

and see who is there.”