Spent most of this day doing work, but by the end of the day I headed into downtown to catch the Chris Brecht show. Though before the show I wandered around and saw a theater with a bunch of people crowding around a black SUV. Someone famous, I thought. Some guy I'd never seen before jumped out of the car--
So I moved on down the street to the capitol building:
After that little trip I decided to head back on the same road and it looked like some more famous people were being photographed:
It's that chick from The Office and that guy from Clueless.
The Chris Brecht show was good. It did get a bit monotonous at times but the song "I Played Cards With the Devil" and this song, "Someone Is Gonna Lose" were great. The songs from the album sound really great, I guess the show itself was a little less dynamic--hence the monotonous feeling. Anyhow, not a bad experience at all.
The second band was really entertaining. They reminded me of a modern day Wonders. Sadly their recorded music doesn't pack as much punch as their live show, "Soul Control" is a good song. Here's the myspace.
Bob Schneider came on last and didn't really do it for me, despite the uplifting sound. I really liked the trumpet player however, who also played an accordian. This guy was all over the stage and really was getting the audience going. The songs Captain Kirk and The Effect are not half bad however.
Day 4:
The first day of volunteering was at the Interactive Tradeshow. Met fellow volunteers Zoey, Lee, and Jeff. I need to get some pictures of the people I'm working with. The show itself was alright, not a whole lot of useful technologies as I would have imagined, though this was a great site: blellow.com - at least the idea is great. Basically a social media site connecting freelancers and employers.
*Zoey in the Blue Shirt (really need to get more pictures of the folks I'm working with)When the work was done, Zoey suggested going to a party called Dorkbot and the Frog Design party. I went downstairs with her and ran into Lee and asked what she was upto for the night, she said She was going to Aces, a bar on 6th. They went into the ladies room to change out of their volunteer shirts. Lee came out after a short time, but Zoey remained. Lee and I ended up waiting 10 or 15 minutes for Zoey, but still no Zoey. Lee went off to Aces and I waited another 5 minutes for Zoey. I ended up going off to the Dorkbot party to see if I could get in. Couldn't get in, so went in search of Aces, which by this time I had forgotten the name because some guy started talking to me about a cool interactive tradeshow guide - sxsw.razorfish.com. After he left, I re-remembered the name of the bar as Arcades. I was wondering around 6th asking people where Arcades was but got nowhere fast. So I started looking for a place to eat when I got a text from Lee saying it was Aces on 6th and Neches. Finally. So I went back that way after going back and forth between many blocks, many times.
Aces was great. When I got in there, there was a huge screen on the main stage with two plasma TVs, a girl on on side, a guy on the other, dueling it out in Halo 3. I was at the right place, I thought. Met Lee there and her friends, Suzy and Joe. And there were free drinks until 8pm. Freckin sweet. I chatted with them a while and came to know Lee as an HR girl, Joe and Suzy as grad students at UT. I think Joe was in microbiology and Suzy, I forget what she did.
Anyway, after a good time there, we moved to another bar that had food, I forget the name of the place but had a Pecan BBQ brisket sandwich. Tried a local beer I forget the name of also, but reminded me of a light Manny's. Everyone headed their separate ways after that, while a wondered around a bit more looking for the Frog Design party. I went to where I thought it was and was just so damn tired I opted to catch the bus back to Karen's. Great day.
Day 5:
Another long day of volunteering, though this time it started at 11 instead of 8:30am. Pretty much just sat around inside guarding a door so that no one could get through. Only people with the right badges. Got a lot of questions about where the bathroom was. I occasionally switched positions to the front door and chatted with other volunteers.
I finally met Master Cheif, too before he walked off to kill some aliens:
AWESOME.At the end of the day, I went to the Web Awards where I said I would meet Zoey. Saw some cool sites and here's a good list. The end boss at Crappycat.com is crazy.
Following the web awards, I was trying to decide whether to check out a film or go to a party called Imaginations. I went with a film called RIP: A Remix Manifesto. I really liked this film. It talks about how music in particular is at a crossroads with copyright infringement. The music of the artist, Girl Talk (aka Gregg Gillis), was at the heart of the movie. He creates mash-up music that record companies hate because he samples copyrighted music. Really great movie, here's a review I found of it.
Day 6:
I pretty much just laid around today. Got a little sick last night after realizing that no buses were coming and taking a cab back to Karen's around 2. The cabby was cool though, I told him I was going to be driving to New Orleans and he was saying that there was looting in east Texas after the last hurricane came through and said to be careful. It's hard to feel worried though, most everyone I've met so far has been really helpful if I needed something.
I just lazed around and wrote a song outside in the sunshine. Karen showed me how to make Frito Pie. Been occasionally adding to this blog post, and should be getting to some work tomorrow as I'll be free again. Though, Wednesday I'll be back at the Convention Center for the music Tradeshow and the beginning of insanity. I bought some gatorade, redbull, and snackbars in preparation.
Some bands I'm really looking forward to seeing:
The Tallest Man on Earth
Black Diamond Bay
Justin Townes Earle
Say Hi
