Click through to check out some photos from my last two days at SXSW.

It’s NOT OK to repost these elsewhere without contacting me first.

Sorry to be an überbitch about it, but recently I have been running into the problem of having my photos swiped sans permission. It’s gotten to the point where I hesitate about posting my work in a public space at all.

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OK, you asked for it: the final installment of the blahcast — and this one has extra blah for you. I woke up at 4AM to get to the airport, anticipating a delay w/r/t my “situation,” but quite the opposite. I don’t think I’ve ever blazed through airport security that quickly, and this included a secondary search! And then, I had four hours of waiting to board my flight. And then a three hour layover in Chicago. That’s seven hours of nothing combined with a six hour flight.

So the night before (Friday), I went to that Lamar Pedestrian bridge show, and was totally unaware there was a riot going on. That’s how packed it was — people were jumping off the bridge and most of the audience had no clue. I was definitely freaked out by how much the bridge was moving, but other than that, I think was more concerned about being cold. (I thought I was going to head back to the hotel to change, but alas.)

BTW, I plan on putting up the rest of my photographs either later tonight or tomorrow, depending on how much coursework I can blaze through. (Ah, school.)

Wye Oak at the Parish Room. (© Maria Tessa Sciarrino)

If I didn’t crawl into bed around 6 a.m., you would totally have more pictures. They are downloading off the camera as I write this. I need to get some food, recharge the spiritual batteries and get ready for a day of AWESOMENESS.

Also, it was nice to run into Mark Wilett again, who assured me that the aggro nature of Amy and myself on the music blog panel two years ago was the best thing about the panel. I have been spending the past 2 years totally worried that I was a complete and total jackass. (How is that different from any other day?)

Gowns performs at Ms. Bea’s (© Maria Tessa Sciarrino)

More photos and quick commentary after the jump.

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Naked Raygun at Red Eyed Fly; camera courtesy of Toby

I got in late yesterday, but I saw a couple of bands.

Those that know, know. Ahem.

Anyway. I’m Texas-bound quite soon and I have only one important, pressing thing on my mind: how many day parties and showcases will it take for me to go from loving No Age to totally hating them? ‘Cause they’re playing, like, all of them.

While I’m officially at SXSW on behalf of WPRB, please stay tuned to here for all your much needed insider info, photos, sound bites and whatnot.

seriously. book your flight to sxsw in december or january and you’ll be fine. you’ll never have to resort to this. [via CSTB] interestingly enough, the article lists cat chow’s age as 33, meanwhile her band’s website claims her birthdate as 2/5/83.

» i saw 34 bands this year, according to my notes. i thought i saw less this year but it seems i saw more compared to 2005.

» who i saw: i love you but ive chosen darkness, kiss me deadly, love of diagrams, low skies, capitol years, pidgeon, ted leo, rogue wave, serena maneesh, zutons, nethers, national eye, oxford collapse [2x], hudson bell, part chimp, thunderbirds are now!, clockcleaner, the new flesh, kelley stoltz, eugene mirman, band of horses, peter holsapple/chris stamey, the spinto band, love is all, air traffic controllers, +/-, superchunk, the bats and then some totally forgettable band at the chunklet/monitor party.

» who were the hot bands at sxsw ‘06? i’ve been asked this question a couple times so far [even when interviewed by chicago public radio on saturday] and honestly, i can’t really think of one band that was ridiculously talked about or reason to wait in long lines for. 2006 seemed like the year of secret shows, established artists [moz, flaming lips, bunnymen, gang of four] and reunions/bands on hiatus [glass eye, superchunk, lifetime, the bats] — bands that _don’t_ need to play a festival like this. perhaps this points to a growing suspicion that the market is too saturated or that the industry can’t figure out who really needs the help. take one look at the sxsw swag bag that’s given away to badgeholders and you’ll see what i mean.

» did i have a good time? without a doubt. will i do it again? i submitted my hotel request for next year… today.

Here are some videos I took at SXSW! Now you too can experience the madness of the festival in the comfort of your own home. It’s better this way, because the festival is getting too big.

All movies open up in a new window and you’ll need Quicktime to view them.

» I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness [752 KB] at Emo’s 3/15/06

» The Capitol Years [3.1 MB] at SoHo Lounge 3/15/06

» Thunderbirds Are Now! [4.8 MB] at SoHo Lounge 3/16/06

» Clockcleaner [1.5 MB] at Snake Eyes Vinyl 3/17/06

» Eugene Mirman [1.2 MB] at Red Eyed Fly 3/18/06
A quick bit of backstory: Eugene was reading a message sent to him on Myspace from some guys who wanted him to come out to their show. They described their band as something I cant remember crossed with Santana. So the clip opens up on Mirman playing a snippet of that band. I was laughing so hard that you can tell I’m having trouble holding the camera still! Take a wild guess as to what I found to be hilarious.

» Superchunk [3 MB] at Antone’s 3/19/06

» The Bats [752 KB] at Habana Calle 6 Patio 3/19/06