once again, another restructuring, not entirely sure if it will be final. i am kinda digging this layout [hemingway] but definitely needs some tweaks.

quick week in review:

» delta 5 cd is out. electrelane’s mia clarke reviews it for pitchfork. you’d think for someone who plays such incredible music thats obviously influenced by bands such as the delta 5, the writing could be a bit more, um, passionate.

» my interview with the penn current is out. lots of nice emails from many folks in the past couple of days.

» ive been invited to speak at sxsw on a panel about mp3 blogs with matt, scott stereogum, mark from music for robots; jason gross, who oversaw the delta 5 project i worked on, is the moderator. should be interesting! i hadnt planned on attending this year but this is a nice development.

while im on the subject of sxsw, let me vent for a moment. to preface: i LOVE sxsw. i love getting away from the dregs of an eastern weather, wandering streets packed full of rock stars, like im in some sort of dream. so it goes without saying, i am SO TIRED of hearing people say “the best moments of sxsw are not the ones in the festival.” lets face it, this kind of half-assed statement is not that far off from saying “its not the size, its how you use it.” worst offenders? townies.

look, i get it: you hate the festival. two weeks out of every year, all these assholes crowd your town, generating revenue, like, OMG LIFE IS *SO* HARD. if you hate it that much, put your vacation time in a year in advance, fake your death, anything — whatever it takes to get you to shut the fuck up, im all for it.

i find the whole idea that good tourism means slipping into everyday routine a fallacy, which explains my utter contempt at the suggestion that the best moments are the day parties. day parties are part of the machine at this point and really, sound far too much like my weekends as-is: some bands, a lot of stilted conversation with industry folk/hipster glitterati/whathaveyou and booze.

truth of the matter is, the best moments of sxsw i experience are when its obvious i dont belong. wandering down south congress and feeling that extra ounce of friendliness heaped on me by the parts & labor clerk because im clearly from out of town. the spark of travel thrives on otherness — isnt that why townies pack up for a few brief days, too?

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 29th, 2006 at 6:07 pm and is filed under general.