So the theme of today is Brand Loyalty/Customer Service)

M and I rode the bikes down to the AOL pop-up show featuring Broken Bells.  The staff managing the line didn’t get the message on providing customer service.   The event staff was bitchy and told us that we weren’t going to get in.  We stayed in line for the official door count.  We made the cut off but our dudes from Gowalla were right behind us and didn’t make it in.  M and I took issue with this.  Gowalla was a sponsor of the interactive festival (and they did us a solid, letting us into their party), they should have been treated better.

M had words with the event staff and started posting on the twitter to the event sponsors about the incident.  After a few free beers we ran into Denise with AOL.  She happened to be interviewing attendees.  M and I told her what happened  with Gowalla and went on to mention (on camera) the importance of brand loyalty.  M and I have been attending the festival for a while and there are parties that we go to every year regardless.  Some sponsors know how to treat their guests and many of them stay on top of the music scene to provide both big name bands and up and coming bands.

Broken Bells put on a great show (we will post the pictures later).  A short time into the show, we found out that the sponsors made an attempt to correct the actions of the event staff.  Based on the twitter posts, it doesn’t look like Gowalla made it in.

Gowalla did not get in to Broken Bells

After the show, we walked to Creekside to check the schedule for the Big Texas Jumpstart (and to get a free beer).  Then we were off to ACC to stroll through the tradeshow (we spotted Erik Estrada from Chips promoting the Starkey Hearing Foundation) and use the computers (I needed to up my texting plan).  Then we were off to the Purevolume House to pick up laminates (which I have yet to use). We made a few friends in line, then headed over to Creekside to catch Ezra Furman and the Harpoons and Everybody was in the French Resistance…Now!.

Since it was St. Patty’s day, M and I decided to go off the grid for the night.  SXSW was put on pause and we headed back to the house to tidy up and chill out.

Cost for the day: tips for bartender

Free: 1 beer.  I phone case.

Day 5 was rainy and cold (very much like today).  I decided to bundle up and hide out in the Drafthouse.  I saw Tiny Furniture (Meh) and Canal Street Madam (rent it!) back to back.  I decided to take advantage of the film shuttle and hitched a ride from South Lamar to the ACC.  I met up with TripLittle at the Registrants Lounge for Scotch (I love scotch. Scotch, scotch, scotch…  especially when it is free).   My Yenta joined us and got a free massage.

Yenta had the getaway car ready to go, so I hitched a ride back to the Drafthouse to catch Barry Munday (Awesome!).  It was time for food so we decided to grab dinner during the film.   After the Q&A (by a horrible interviewer), Yenta and I went to her house for wine and a recap of SXSW happenings.  The plan was to drop off a car and head downtown for the film party (free drinks).

Yenta is a connector (Gladwell).  She somehow remembers everyone worth knowing.  She catalogs them by birthday. We made a few new friends at the party.  We happened to see a woman in a great knit dress (fitted, longsleeve, maxi, with horizontal stripes).  Her husband was a film director and she is an event promoter. I have a feeling we will cross paths with these people again.

Cost for the day: $10 for food at the drafthouse

Free: scotch, 3 well shelf beverages, glass of wine

No more volunteering.  I still had to get up early though. I spent the morning with the realtor (I am selling my house so I need a new place to live).  I went on a lunch date at Cafe Mundi.  I took a little nap then headed back to the house to chill out for a bit.  We ate dinner at the house (back to the giant bowl of pasta and veggies) and headed off to the Gowalla party (on foot) to hear Diplo spin.  Good times were had at the party (even in the rain).  We were a bit far from Mexico (and M was tipsy) so we took a cab (we are still trying to figure out the origin of our cab driver’s accent).

Cost for the day: $10 for a cab and a few bucks for tips

Free: lunch, 4 or 5 top shelf beverages, a t-shirt and snacks

My volunteer gig didn’t start until noon, BUT I promised the hungover kids a ride to the convention center.  I wife’d up some coffee and breakfast tacos to go in 15 minutes.  There are more M stories but that will be part of her recap.

I biked to the convention center for my shift (after wife-ing up some of my own coffee and breakfast).  After my shift I biked home for food and to let out D.  I provided get away car service for M and Major Thom after their shift was over.

Sunday night was pretty low key.  We went to dinner at Hai Ky (we were getting tired of eating the mountain of pasta  with veggies in the fridge).  We hit the Google party and found out there were no more free drinks (FYI, if a party starts at 8, do NOT show up at 10 expecting free drinks).  We ended up leaving and hanging out at the Gingerman.  I ended up having some sort of strange allergy/nausea thing and ended up bailing and walking home.

M made a few friends while I was off sick. … more on that later.

No volunteering today.

I decided to run a few errands and head down to the Alamo South Lamar to check out the Freebie.  I went in with low expectations.  It was ok.  Nothing to write home about.  After the movie, I headed back to Mexico to let out D.  Then I biked downtown to check out Dorkbot.  After that we hit Emo’s (Fuck Yeah SXSW!),  Shangrila (Lame Book.  BTW, this event had a $3 cover), Frog Design Party, and the Happy Cog’aoke Party.

By the end of the night we had drank so much we had to walk the bikes home.

There are a few more tales to tell about Saturday night, but they are M’s stories to tell.

Cost of today: $8 (cover + Whiskey soda at Emo’s)

Free stuff: 2 beers at Dorkbot, Whiskey soda (Scoot)

Technically my 1st day of SXSW was on Tuesday  (pre-conference volunteering).  After a few days of making the internet, registration, and the connection centers happen, I was able to have some fun.

Friday night I caught the world premier of Kick Ass.  It was definitely worth standing in line for 1.5 hours (I also scored a bumper sticker and a key chain).  Seriously, a father daughter team of assassins and a classic tale of revenge,  it was a great way to kick off the film festival.

After the movie I stopped at Emo’s on the way home for the Pastries and Pasties party.  By the time I got there, the alcohol was no longer free and there wasn’t a cupcake in sight.

Cost of today : $0

Free: whiskey soda (purchased for me by a friend)

In the last 3 days, M have burned through the SXSW torrent in 2 sittings.

Without the help of an intern or outsourcing the task to India, we have managed to RSVP for EVERYTHING (We have a google calendar of it all.  If you are nice, maybe we will share it with you). The only way to manage this was to check the internet a lot.

Sched.org is live now.  M and I are adding the chosen bands to sched so we can make sure that we don’t miss anything.  Since music doesn’t start to Wednesday, we may table the band selection and start on films/SXSWi parties.

Things have been a wee bit stressful with the SXSW volunteer thing but I promise to recap my days at SXSW as soon as possible.  The netbook fits nicely in my new backpack.

I posted some of this in my Fun^3 Fest 2008 wrap up.  I cannot stress the importance of having the right gear during SXSW.

Useful Festival Gear (for the whole Fest):
So I noticed that very few people are prepared for an all day outdoor festival. Granted, the door people search your bags for weapons, booze, and food. But still, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t pack a few things. This is what was in my bag (FYI: This year I am testing out the KEEN skyline.  It’s a kid’s bag but I looks like the right size for the job):

• Tissues – also useful when the port-o-potty is out of TP
• Hand Sanitizer or Moist Towlettes, wet wipes and/or face wipes.
• Visine/Eyedrops
• Extra Sunglasses
• Earplugs – I prefer the reusable swimmers earplugs. I bring disposable ones too, it is a good way to make friends.
• Camera – with extra memory (note that cameras are not always allowed at festivals but you can check ahead of time).
• A descent size bag to carry all your stuff and free swag (your friend may or not be willing to be your sherpa). I carry a messenger bag. M usually has her cycling backpack.
• Cash – not all events take credit or have an onsite ATM (It’s also nice to tip the bartender for those free drinks).
• Empty water bottle – staff might prevent you from taking in water, but they can’t stop you from bringing an empty bottle. You can usually find a water fountain or restroom to fill it up.
• Coozie- Most of the time the beer chicks are somewhere in proximity distributing them. Never when you need them though.
• Chapstick
• Sweater/Sweatshirt- It’s good to dress in layers. By the end of the night you will be glad you packed it. I usually stick a hat in my bag for that reason.
• Bicycle- It is the best way to get around town. Driving is not really an option.  Public transit isn’t reliable.
• Walking Shoes- Go practical before cute.  You will be standing long hours on concrete most likely.

Useful Festival Gear (for SXSWi):

• Laptop- Ever so important for blogging on the go.  You can attempt it on your smart phone, but really, a keyboard is your friend.

like order…

I like schedules…

I like to do lists…

I had the afternoon off from work so I got started on my SXSW 2010 Game plan.

Where do we start?

1)Bands -  M has pasted the list of SXSW Showcasing Artists to a Google docs spreadsheet.  From there we download the torrent and begin rating the bands (somewhere along the lines of “sucks balls” to “I would give an organ to see that band”).  If there are too many in the “I want to see this so bad”  we make an attempt to check out more songs by the band to determine the new ranking.

From there I have been using the wretched my.SXSW feature to save the list of bands I am interested in checking out.  The only perk is that it exports to Google Calendar.  I can make sure that all this gets added to sched when the time comes.

2) Schedules- Now there are a few scheduling tools out there. The best one available so far is Sched.org.  Unfortunately they don’t have the 2010 schedule up right now.  In the interim there are a few tools/sites M and I are using to get a head start on RSVP’s and such.

(edited 2/27)I built a Google calendar to share which has all of the day parties that have been listed on Donewaiting.com/sxsw, Do512.com’s SXSW Edition,  and Austinist’s SXSW guide (M has also been cruising the Twitter).  If it is on the calendar, it means that M and I are RSVP’d and ready to go.  Right now the plan is to RSVP for everything and sort it all out later when sched is back.

For now I will give you the wrap up for 2009.  I may have some words on the last decade later.

This year in live music: Broken Social Scene, Lymbyc Systym, The Submarines,  SXSW (Flosstradamus, Asobi Seksu, Titus Andronicus, Chairlift, the DJs from the Hood Internet, Kanye West, Big Sean, GLC Consequence, Really Do, Tony Williams, Mr. Hudson, Kid Cudi, Common, Erykah Badu, Buck65, B.Dolan, Sleep, Sage Francis, the Obits, Handsome Furs, American Analog Set, the Rosebuds, Bishop Allen, Au Revoir Simone, These Arms are Snakes, Cursive,  Passion Pit,  the Soft Pack, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Matt and Kim, Amplive, Franki Chan and Curt from Flosstradamus, and Echo and the Bunnymen),  Crystal Castles, Loxsly, the Dears, Great Northern, Passion Pit, Harlem Shakes, Clues, Explosions in the Sky , De La Soul, El Ten Eleven , Free Press Summerfest (Broken Social Scene, Explosions in the Sky, Prince Paul, Voxtrot), Los Campesinos!, Broken Social Scene,   FFF Fest (Royal Bangs, Crystal Antlers, Foot Patrol, Sugar and Gold, Vega, MC Chris, Neon Indian, Yeasayer, Les Savy Fav, Pharcyde, Atlas Sound, Why?, Broadcast, Dj Numark,  Lucero, MIssion of Burma, Buraka Som Sistema, GZA, Kid Sister ) Regina Spektor, Hockey, and Pheonix.

This year in non-live music: I am still having Last.fm iPod scrobbling issues.  Here’s to this year’s new albums that kept me awake at my desk. NASA, Mos Def, Amanda Blank, Del tha Funky Homosapien, Discovery, Walkmen, Headlights, Passion Pit, Yo La Tengo, Heartless Bastards, Animal Collective,…

This year in Sewing: I entered the Little Black Dress Contest and helped a friend who is writing a book on green clothing design.

This year on the interwebs: I am still bad about updating Twitter.  I have fallen in love with hulu and the hood internet.

This year in Movies: (theater) SXSW (RIP: A Remix Manifesto,  500 days of Summer,  Died Young, Stayed Pretty, The Time of Their Lives, Yes Men Fix the World,  Alexander the Last, and  I Love You, Man), Inglorious Basterds, Up in the Air, (dvd)Persepolis,  Thank You for Smoking, Fast Food Nation, The Yes Men.

This year in Books: Goodreads This is what I read: Story of the Eye-Georges, Bataille, Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper- Diablo Cody, He’s Just not that into You- Greg Behrendt, Fast Food Nation- Eric Schlosser, The Other Side of Thirty- M.A. Thakor, The Manual- Steve Santagati, Another Roadside Attraction- Tom Robbins, Love is a Mix Tape- Rob Sheffield, Even Cowgirls get the Blues- Tom Robbins, Choke- Chuck Palahniuk, High Fidelity- Nick Hornby,

Here is the list of things I neglected to do in 2009 along with excuses for not doing them:

1. More bike rides (and maybe a bike with gears). No new bikes.  I did go on a few long rides though. I would bike more if I weren’t allergic to outside.
   
2. A jumble of personal goals: tolerance, being a better person, being more trusting, baggage reduction, etc… I haven’t made things worse (At least I don’t think I did).
3. Design for another fashion show.  Hopefully Stitch, when it returns. Stitch did not return this year.
4. Demolish the back porch and fix the fence. Those are still there.  The plan is to ditch the whole house.
5. Road trip. Didn’t happen.  I flew to Seattle instead.

2010 will be my 33rd year.   My Yenta says it should be one of the best.