We didn’t go to SXSW this year, but a lot of people we know did. We’ve thrown out the invitation for them to document their experiences here, in a little segment we’re calling SXSWland Tales.
Today’s recap is a play by play status update style post from Abby Dimalanta, who was working with Maps For Travelers at this year’s festival.
MARCH 16
Heading to Austin for SXSW with the wonderful Maps For Travelers… who, rather appropriately, turned down the option to use a GPS in favor of using directions & maps. ♥! – 12:24 am
Candid proof. Joshua Enyart of Maps For Travelers checking maps along the journey to SXSW! – 7:37 am
More (blurry but candid) proof. R.L. Brooks of Maps For Travelers, part time driver/part time navigator/full time rocker. – 9:14 am
Day 1, Show 1: got to SXSW at 11, started at noon, good show, saw Jason Poe and also Slummie, got to see Judgement Day play on a street corner, still haven’t slept or ate really but having an amazing time! – 4:40 pm
Josh got separated from the group and had to ride his bike at least 10 miles… but his cell phone was dead and he didn’t want to get lost, so he drew a map. Zach of Maps For Travelers checking out Josh’s hand drawn map on the back of a fuchsia flyer. – 9:47 pm
Day 1, Show 2: managed to find a place that served breakfast all day (eggs sounded good cause we hadn’t slept or had a meal in a long time and it turned out to be owned by a family from KCMO, show sounded great but was cut short cause of house equipment breaking, expensive beer, cheap jello shots, good crowd at The Dizzy Rooster.- 11:28 pm
MARCH 17
Seen Merch surprised me with a bright pink American Apparel version of the Charlie Sheen shirt. They’re such awesome guys! Thanks 😀 – 3:06 pm
Breakfast tacos and free beer! Ran into the guys from KC’s Walking Oceans 😀 — at Valhalla. – 7:39 pm
$5 Irish Car Bombs… — at Cheers.- 7:40 pm
Not feeling it… the bar specials sign says “support your local bartender TIP BIG” and he has a fauxhawk and 0 gauge plugs. — at Treasure Island Pirate Bar.- 7:43 pm
Day 2, NO SHOWS: spent most of the day recovering from the traveling and lack of sleep and food. Awesome bonding time with great people. Got out to SXSW around 4:45. One drink per stop goal… hitting up as many bars as possible.- 7:47 pm
3 parts Buzzard Beach, 2 parts Replay. Drinking Lone Star tallboys. — at Jackalope.- 8:13pm
Coyote Ugly Saloon was dead. So now we’re at Loyjoys – Bottleneck with a touch of the upstairs of the 8th St Taproom. — at Lovejoys.- 10:06 pm
Green jello shots. Then back to the Jackalope. — at The Dizzy Rooster.- 11:17 pm
There are Zack Galafinakis and Amy Winehouses at every bar…- 11:38 pm
MARCH 18
I give up for the night. Back at the house we’re staying at, totally sober, feeling sorta down. :/- 2:05 am
I feel like I’ve lost. Conceding to defeat.- 2:40 am
Totally awake right now.- 8:44 am
The day after St. Patty’s Day is one of two days a year that the walk of shame is amplified for everyone to see. The other being Halloween.- 2:05 pm
Free Boulavard beer! Watching the SXSW KC Showcase: The Republic Tigers, The Appleseed Cast, Walking Oceans, Maps For Travelers, Beautiful Bodies… should be a great day in TX. — at Liberty.- 5:01 pm
MARCH 19
(LATE) Day 3, Show 3: eggs benedict/mimosa breakfast, SXSW’s Midwest Takeover, KC/Lawrence bands did such a good job, met lots of people from KC I’d never met before, Abby (Fred P Otts) ran the show, Maps did a great job – RL got down on some trumpet, free beer ran out at 4, made friends w/ Austin’s Boulevard rep – free beer for me for the rest of the night, delicious food stand in the back of Liberty. Great times.- 2:24 pm
AT&T Uverse… I ♥ you. You are better than Time Warner for many reasons. Today it’s because I remembered that I can get free Wifi access using my account login info at AT&T Wifi Hotspots, which is the only one available at SXSW.- 9:17pm
Was walking down the street looking for the Taco stand when I saw Rico getting seriously DOWN to some “Single Ladies” at some random outdoor bar, haha! — at Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill with Rico Dejoie.- 11:32 pm
So many KC people here… it’s really nice because we’re all actually getting to hang out and talk more than normal since we’re all out of town. But it also really makes me miss that amazing guy out in Lawrence, KS right now. — at Bar Liberty.- 1:27 am
MARCH 20
(LATE) Day 4, Show 4: BEST SHOW was at Treasure Island, sound was amazing, crowds gathered around the stage and outside, so many people checking out merch/email sign-up/watching the music video/asking for CDs, ran out of free singles & went through tons of EPs, ran into Hannah Larson, all of Beautiful Bodies, John Robert Cardwell of Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, oh and Zach’s fake girlfriend.- 11:26 am
Almost out of Austin… Can’t wait to come home to my two favorite boys.- 2:20 pm
“It’s not racist, it’s true…” hahahahahaha, aww.- 3:08 pm
Heroes and Villains don’t realize that we’ve been driving next to them off and on for the past two hours. It’s outer belt road vs highway now… let’s see who gets to KC first! But seriously, if you’re leaving SXSW anytime soon… don’t bother going yet. Some accident or something has traffic backed up for miles. I think we’re still in Austin metro 2 1/2 hours later.- 5:41 pm
2 miles in 50 minutes… check out the outer belt road in front of us. They aren’t moving either… were still in Austin proper and we left at 3PM.- 6:49 pm
Maps anyone? Haha.- 8:37 pm
This feels a lot like what it would be like if a zombie outbreak occurred in Austin and everyone was fleeing the city causing massive hysteria and traffic jams across Texas and Oklahoma. People crowding into gas stations getting as much fuel and provisions as they can to keep them on the road for as long as possible… – 9:13 pm
They ran out of Fuel at one of the first gas stations and people started losing it, getting in verbal fights, and crying supposedly. People are definitely freaking out.- 10:15 pm
MARCH 21
The car-nage continues… backed up traffic just north of Denton, TX as people try to flee the seen, uh, I mean scene. 😉 Anyway we broke off the main highway, unlike most of our unfortunate friends who are stuck in stand still traffic. Hopefully this increases our chances of successfully making it through the night…- 1:38 am
