Last week I took the Amtrak from Union Station in Chicago to Austin, Texas to partake in the South by Southwest music festival and it was quite the experience. The train was twenty-eight hours long and I would never take it again if I didnt have to without a sleeper car.
This writeup is by no means a guide to doing SXSW the right way but merely my crazy draining and amazingly fulfilling week in Austin. Week long music festivals are a big endeavor but if you are with the right people and in the right spirits you can have a successful experience. Everyday, all day, there were shows, cookouts and promotions going on everywhere within a ten mile radius of the downtown area. We did not buy tickets to the official SXSW show at the convention center but surprisingly you can go SXSW for free if you secure a place to stay that is close enough to downtown so you wont need cabs and RSVP online to the right shows. At the end of the week I felt like I had climbed a mountain in the dead of summer however i had seen tons of great music in a very inmate setting even if things got sloppy at times. There are a lot of holes in the week as we jumped around from show to show and stumbled into lots of things but here is the basic layout.
The first day we went to Emos, Fool's Gold at Beauty Ballroom & the North Door to see acts such as ASAP Ferg, World's Fair, Flatbrush Zombies, Flosstradamus, Esquire and too many more to keep up with but we danced....yes we danced so much I was sore the rest of the week. Emo's and Fool's Gold had a great VIP area with very rememberable kabobs and duck hot dogs along with a very chill atmosphere.
The second day we wandered east of downtown and saw a different side of the festival which was nice. I ran into some old highschool friends from Chicago Academy for the Arts who were about to go on stage so we reminsneced and soaked up the sun. That night ended at the Illmore Manision which in my opinion was the place to be all week. The night before Kendrix Lamar played and throughout the week anyone who was worth seeing was there late night. It got so crowded that the second story floor even cracked and security got a little crazy. Again, everything is free if you know the right people or RSVP at the right time and place. Chicago kids are always around and we got to meet some artists like Caleb James who's careers are really just about to take off.
The third and last day we caught some smaller shows which ended up being some of my favorites. We caught some old Chicago friends and some new Mid-West buddies at the Eastern before heading to the Fader Fort by Converse. The freebies were endless and the atmosphere with pingpong, cotton candy and endless drinks made the day one of my favorites as we waited for French Montana. The crowd was animalistic as I got shoved and smoshed at 5'2 so we ended up leaving early. That evening we headed to the Viceland party downtown where we saw Action Bronson, AbSoul, Danny Brown and while Ghostface Killah from the Wu was about to go on we had to leave for reasons I dont remember now. At Viceland, they had tons of freebies again including a switch-out for Galaxy phone batteries, charging stations, free whiskey drinks and even after a long drawn out corporate display, a free Dr.Dre Beat Pill at the #PillClinic. While there was an open bar, the charades of sexy nurses and a fake doctor exam explaining the product were worth the faux prescription for just what the doctor ordered - a free tshirt and beats pill.
Food wise we ate at everything under the sun from kickass chains like Pappadeaux to food carts galore but it was so hot that eating was secondary. I tried some Texas Gulf Coast oysters that were huge but so fresh with no grit, Argentinean Empanadas that revivaled the real thing, some bland Pho (I guess you are suppose to pronouce it like "Fa" now) and at Kates Southern Comfort I had out of this world bread pudding and BBQ along with a great conversation with some seasoned real Americans.
Im currently en route to Miami for Ultra Music Festival so stay tuned, I got lots more blogs to come in the next few weeks. Keep on keeping on.
This writeup is by no means a guide to doing SXSW the right way but merely my crazy draining and amazingly fulfilling week in Austin. Week long music festivals are a big endeavor but if you are with the right people and in the right spirits you can have a successful experience. Everyday, all day, there were shows, cookouts and promotions going on everywhere within a ten mile radius of the downtown area. We did not buy tickets to the official SXSW show at the convention center but surprisingly you can go SXSW for free if you secure a place to stay that is close enough to downtown so you wont need cabs and RSVP online to the right shows. At the end of the week I felt like I had climbed a mountain in the dead of summer however i had seen tons of great music in a very inmate setting even if things got sloppy at times. There are a lot of holes in the week as we jumped around from show to show and stumbled into lots of things but here is the basic layout.
The first day we went to Emos, Fool's Gold at Beauty Ballroom & the North Door to see acts such as ASAP Ferg, World's Fair, Flatbrush Zombies, Flosstradamus, Esquire and too many more to keep up with but we danced....yes we danced so much I was sore the rest of the week. Emo's and Fool's Gold had a great VIP area with very rememberable kabobs and duck hot dogs along with a very chill atmosphere.
The second day we wandered east of downtown and saw a different side of the festival which was nice. I ran into some old highschool friends from Chicago Academy for the Arts who were about to go on stage so we reminsneced and soaked up the sun. That night ended at the Illmore Manision which in my opinion was the place to be all week. The night before Kendrix Lamar played and throughout the week anyone who was worth seeing was there late night. It got so crowded that the second story floor even cracked and security got a little crazy. Again, everything is free if you know the right people or RSVP at the right time and place. Chicago kids are always around and we got to meet some artists like Caleb James who's careers are really just about to take off.
The third and last day we caught some smaller shows which ended up being some of my favorites. We caught some old Chicago friends and some new Mid-West buddies at the Eastern before heading to the Fader Fort by Converse. The freebies were endless and the atmosphere with pingpong, cotton candy and endless drinks made the day one of my favorites as we waited for French Montana. The crowd was animalistic as I got shoved and smoshed at 5'2 so we ended up leaving early. That evening we headed to the Viceland party downtown where we saw Action Bronson, AbSoul, Danny Brown and while Ghostface Killah from the Wu was about to go on we had to leave for reasons I dont remember now. At Viceland, they had tons of freebies again including a switch-out for Galaxy phone batteries, charging stations, free whiskey drinks and even after a long drawn out corporate display, a free Dr.Dre Beat Pill at the #PillClinic. While there was an open bar, the charades of sexy nurses and a fake doctor exam explaining the product were worth the faux prescription for just what the doctor ordered - a free tshirt and beats pill.
Food wise we ate at everything under the sun from kickass chains like Pappadeaux to food carts galore but it was so hot that eating was secondary. I tried some Texas Gulf Coast oysters that were huge but so fresh with no grit, Argentinean Empanadas that revivaled the real thing, some bland Pho (I guess you are suppose to pronouce it like "Fa" now) and at Kates Southern Comfort I had out of this world bread pudding and BBQ along with a great conversation with some seasoned real Americans.
Im currently en route to Miami for Ultra Music Festival so stay tuned, I got lots more blogs to come in the next few weeks. Keep on keeping on.
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