The long flight is over, hello San Francisco !

We have made it to Austin after a pleasant stay in San Francisco. We stayed in a older hotel on Post Street up from Union Square. Very comfortable with cheese and drinks every night at 4:30

My plus one and I rode the cable cars up and down the hills, hit the farmers market in the Ferry Building, Haight Ashbury and climbed Telegraph Hill. Yours faithfully cycled to Sausalito and caught the ferry back. Great fun.

We visited the Legion of Honour at the end of California Street and took in the ‘Cult of Beauty’ exhibition, Rossetti and other stars of the English avant garde. I enjoyed the William Morris graphics and the illustrated first edition books by Oscar Wilde. We moved on to the de Young museum which holds the more modern works. A photo exhibit by a young artist who visited the city in 1964 was particularly interesting. He came to find the town hosting the 28th Republican convention with the younger population getting ready to greet the Beetles on their first tour.

My efforts not so worthy.

Coming down from Telegraph Hill we stopped at 1360 Montgomery Street where Lauren Bacall sheltered Humphrey Bogart in the stylish film noir – Dark Passage. There was a picture of Bogart in a window!

So much for being a tourist, on to the main event;  goodbye San Francisco and hello Austin Texas.

I am still getting my head around how this SXSW thing works.

There are the showcases, the short official sessions for all the bands, then there are the parties sponsored by record labels (do they still call them that?), magazines, web sites or anyone else that cares (i.e. NZ trade is running a party for the NZ bands). There are also ‘music in the park’ type events over the final weekend.

The problem is when you want to see band X – you have to work out when and where, and that’s not easy. The ‘unofficial’ party scene is pretty hectic and its often a mystery who is playing and when.

Then there are the bands that are in town and unrelated to SXSW. El Ten Eleven is playing one of the parties, will I get to see them?

I am not a party animal. SXSW is a party event. I have wrangled invites to the following and several more. Looks like not much sleep coming up.

Wedding Present…

Black Angels…

Heartless Bastards, YACHT, The Drums, Built to Spill and Clap Your Hands….

Yep. Bass Band Drum of Death particularly.

Milkmaids, free beer and music – how can I resist.

Titus and Cloud Nothings, sweet.

Com Truise ! Matthew Dear!

I’ll be at this one with all the scenesters.

I haven’t a clue about any of these bands, but the ‘circus from beyond’ poster has me curious.

Wet HairChad Valley

Dinosaur Jnr

Last but not least, the Kiwi bash