Part 1 of a dream realized, #afterthebreak…
My Journey To Austin:
The Story of a Guerrilla Photographer at the 2013 South By Southwest Music Festival
Part 1
“Oasis In The Desert”
We talk about dreams. Almost daily. Something we all do. Can’t deny it. Over coffee. At the water cooler. In the bedroom. Secret desires that bring us all closer. You’d be surprised how often I have come across such things in my 29 years. Shared heaps of my own. Hell of an ice breaker. Told a great many that it was a dream of mine to be apart of the SXSW music festival. “An experience of a musical lifetime…” as stated by the featured bloggers from all across the ‘interweb’. Part of me knew it was only a matter of time till I found myself on a cheap flight to Austin. Then the clock struck. March of 2013.
SXSW is now like a folk legend (plus or minus Dylan). Especially to those who choose to listen to such stories like myself. The sound of drums & guitars howling 24/7 … Seas of fleshy music lovers … roars of applause … Street Sirens burning up under hot spotlights … Random storytellers on backstreets, alleyways, and street corners … stadium rockers in a tiny little bar just down the road … old acts being rediscovered to a youthful audience … new acts desperately trying break the mainstream ceiling by performing till their fingers bleed & bodies break … leaving it all on stage for all to see. Insurmountable intimidating hype. Forever changing lives of musicians & bloggers alike. (Films too, but that wasn’t my concern…) I’d be lying if the surplus of curiosity wasn’t weighing on my mind. Was it everything people wrote about? A musical paradise in the Texas desert? Really? A town called Austin. Where battle of the bands is looked favorably as a showdown at the corral. Cue the tumbleweeds.
When I first met the man behind Picksysticks four years ago we bonded over our dream of going to SXSW. It was the mount Everest he wanted to conquer someday. I couldn’t imagine making the trek. Was too fresh. Bored 4 Music was just an infant and as a writer, transitioning from scripts to blogs, was learning process. The major sin of all can be summed up perfectly by this statement, “I didn’t know who Bon Iver was”. Yes, my musical experience was novice to say the least and me going to the mecca of music would’ve been a major waste. However, the seed was planted and my goal was laid out in front of me. Even though I didn’t see it in the thick mist. SXSW was always my ultimate battle I was striving for.
Fast forward four years. So much changed. For both of us. Bored 4 Music was my life– a sleepless late night warrior, music hoarder, and guerrilla photographer…living a secret life that took me all over the western seaboard in search of amazing showcases that I shared with a small group of readers. (Yeah, that’s you.) So when Picksysticks told me that he had been approved to shoot SXSW as a official photo journalist and wasn’t going to take it due to financial bullshit, I signed up to be his tag team partner. Thus knocking half the cost and we would be a team. Who am I kidding? We are a team. Concerts or not. 60% of my showcases have been sponsored by his text messages & calls. His reviews & pictures are substantially better than anything here. Wish I was joking. Far from it. Upmost respect to my master who took the time to build the concert goer that are writing these words. He’s a brother, and those our the comrades you go to war with. Ultimately, regardless if we had the times of our lives or it was the worst experience ever…at least the company would be outstanding. If we were going to do this…it was something we were meant to do together. Funny where life takes you.
It wasn’t a selfless act looking back. I wanted it as much as him. To experience this folktale people have shoved down my throat since I started reading all my favorite blogs four years ago.
Sorry if I’m leaning very poetic with these words. Closest I’ll ever get to nailing the experience on paper.
My thesis is simple dear reader…is to treat you to everything I saw, first hand, and help you traverse the pitfalls if you decide to take on this insurmountable mountain of just musical hype. Nothing …seriously… nothing compares to the 5 days of SXSW. From a entertainment stand point it is unlike anything you can imagine. I experienced 40+ bands over my five days and that was just the tip of the iceberg. Could’ve saw more. If my body didn’t give out, probably would have. The stories don’t do it justice. The reason why: it’s your festival to create and share. Uniqueness that can’t be repeated. Simply incredible. Leaves me speechless…and I was there. I’ve had the wind knocked out of me all over the world. This was another.
We left Tuesday morning and traveled on Southwest Airlines to the weirdest state in the middle of the union. I was equipped with my Guerrilla camera arsenal — Canon PowerShot SX40 HS, Canon Powershot S100, never before used Nikon Coolpix L610, and IPhone 5. Unlike Pixie, I was going in unsanctioned by the festival. My ultimate objective being can I perform the same Guerrilla techniques in Austin as I do here in LA. Will my sweet talking work? Or will I get kicked out by some burly SXSW official with a gun. Ending with my badge being revoked? Didn’t have a clue. From my research found differing opinions from articles of past festival goers. Most of which says that non-professional digital cameras are allowed.
Digital Point & Shoots are technically allowed
Which they are. No venue kicked me out because I was equipped with three cameras in my camera bag. Got warnings. 80% of the workers / volunteers didn’t care. You can read more on these facts in my conclusion of this series. I’ll lay them out as they come to my mind. Can’t wait for us to get there. However, I’m still on a plane during this part of the story. Flying across America, stopping in Arizona, then onward to Austin.
A city I heard stories about from friends. Didn’t do much sightseeing research, but in the weeks leading up to the festival I spent so much time on the SXSW official APP that I knew my daily game plan. Who … What … Where … How … all there, strapped to my hip. Felt like a star trek adventurer with a sensor on a new unexplored planet.
Download the Official SXSW App!
Well deserved shameless plug. I will reinstate this fact a hundred times — “Download The APP”. Wouldn’t have survived without it. My artist list was stacked going into Austin. Multiple choices of random acts that ranged newbies (Jamie N Commons/Pickwick) to chart busters (21 Pilots/Allen Stone/Delta Rae/Joy Formidable/Macklemore & Ryan Lewis/Dead Sara) even some iconic names that will make you jealous with a mere mention of their names (Fall Out Boy/Paramore/Kendrick Lamar/Yelawolf). Saw only 30+, but going in I had 200+ bands scheduled. You’ll learn. Like I did.
Wish I had my full new list still available instead of deleting it everyday. Biggest advice is keep your ear to radio. Bunch of newbies were bands that I heard a day or two before the festival that were mind blowing.
Fair warning: My tale doesn’t include Timberlake, Prince, or Green Day. If you wish to turn back now. Do it. I’ll understand, but there’s good reason. Stick with me. Dropping major truth about what you will really experience on that front soon. Not upset I didn’t see those bands. It was my choice. Again, I’ll get there.
Not gonna bore you with the trek from the airport to weird arena that was Austin. To visualize it: picture a little big town that was hippy weird like San Francisco / Parts of New York in the form of ld time Pasadena. Did I lose you? Unique with a hint of history. Still blows my mind that it is the only major city for miles. The rest is just desert. Texas only has a handful of metropolises and this was the capital…of the state! It’s all bigger in Texas. LA has jaded me. Was nice to see a clear visible line between metro & country. Had imagined more sand. Like a old timey western town.
We rented a Yardis. Loved it! My “tiny Yardis” I nicknamed it. This 6’5″ hulk of a man surprisingly fit in it’s comfy seats as I convinced Pixie that picking up our credentials was the priority over checking into the hotel. Southwest had a great package deal with the only downside being that our motel was located in the outskirts of Downtown. In normal Austin. Didn’t mind it. Was only using it for the bed & charges. Plus added a sprinkle of normality to the vacation. Wasn’t like be trapped in overpriced downtown like a warrior in a musical Colosseum. The only downfall was the end of the night when we had to maneuver past the drunks, tired, crazy cars & bikes back to the freeway. Automatically subtracted an hour off our turnaround time. Made me feel a tad homesick.
If you the $$$ to burn, buy a hotel room downtown…worth it
Above are shots from the convention center & the badge pickup area located within. I’ll talk about the convention center more indepthly in Part 4 of this journey…deserves major shout out. Spent most of Day 4 in it’s hollowed air conditioned halls. Volunteers & workers were very organized. Had no issues. Was done in less than five minutes. When simple things aren’t over overcomplicated certainly makes getting off on the right foot much easier. The signs and arrows helped. Even got some free swag. Did dole out 7 bills to cop a official badge. Pixie got the wristband for half the price. We were going to see who go the best treatment & into the most shows. Didn’t really matter.
Badge or wristband doesn’t really matter if you are a early bird
We ate some Texas BBQ and checked out the city before we traveled back to our car then finally to our hotel. Was our first run in with the Pedicab systems. Also, the SWAG promoters. This was Comic Con for music nerds on a much grander scale. Didn’t seem to matter. Both Pixie and I were in tourist mode. Everything was a subject to our lens. A moment of a time we never wanted to forget before we even knew it.
We hopped back into the car and headed to our hotel. We were rolling. New city. Epic battle looming. Mere hours away…
End of Part 1
[Again…Sorry for Typos.]