SXSW Revisited

I know I've been slacking on blogging lately, but SXSW and school has taken over my life! Anyway, I've caught a break, so I wanted to revisit the events of South-by.

It turned out to be another successful year for the musicians, filmmakers, artists and audiences of SXSW.

I didn't go to too many concerts, but I did end up attending Flatstock (as I mentioned in my last post), as well as attending the Music Trade Show, also at the Convetion Center, and a few films.

It was amazing how many people were out and about in Austin, as well as the coverage the festival got nationwide.

The New York Times said, "While CD sales topple, and major and indie labels struggle, at this year’s 23rd annual SXSW people have been turned away from packed clubs where they are clamoring to see bands that are far from household names: Grizzly Bear, Peter Bjorn and John, St. Vincent. Full houses chanted along to indie hip-hop and pondered broken hearts and God to the picking of Americana bands. Those musicians draw their audiences from people who chase down music in the news media, in blogs and on noncommercial radio stations — or maybe from a friend’s recommendation or a giveaway on a music downloading site." Read more...

Minneapolis' Star Tribune had an article about Twin Cities bands just having fun at the festival. As Minneapolis rapper Omaur Bliss said, "This is like the Disney World of music ... you gotta come to have fun, or forget it." Read full article here.

It seems that like the Star Tribune, most papers were interested in local or near-local bands who had traveled here to play. The Seattle Times writer Jonathan Zwickel wrote, "Funny thing about flying 1,500 miles to Austin, Texas, last week for the South by Southwest music festival: I ended up seeing a lot of faces from around here." Read more from his SXSW article.

All in all I think it was a great year, and I'm sure I'm not the only one looking forward to next year.

Flatstock Recap

My most anticipated SXSW event, as you all know, was Flatstock Poster Show at the Austin Convention Center. It was amazing, and overwhelming.

Artists from around the world gathered to display and sell their work to artist and art fans alike. Due to me being overwhelmed I only bought one poster (I know, lame), but it was great! It was a String Cheese Incident poster by Furturtle prints:

I think it's awesome.

Anyway I wanted to give you a glimpse of what it was like, and I found this video that shows the convention as well as some great posters.



I also found a video from the Daily Record, a Scottish paper visiting the festival. Crazy!



I really recommend any of you out there who are art fans, or even want some really cool, quality posters to visit Flatstock next year, or if you really want to they have multiple Flatstocks throughout the year, usually in Seattle and one other venue. Visit the American Poster Institute to get updates on that.

Recap: Tinted Windows at SXSW

I couldn't make it to the concert, but since I've written about their greatness, I thought I would post a video or two of Tinted Windows at South-by. Here's the band playing on Wednesday:



Voted recently as one of Rolling Stones' "Artists to Watch," SPIN interviewed the "supergroup" at the festival.



Watch out for their self-titled album to debut in May.

TMT Presents Mary Ellen Mark

Today at work, I was able to attend a Texas Monthly Talks taping in the studio, introducing the amazing photographer Mary Ellen Mark. Not only was she here to talk with Evan Smith, editor of Texas Monthly magazine, but she was also doing a talk tonight at 7 p.m. for the Austin Center of Photography. Although she is not an Austin photographer - she's originally from Philadelphia - I could not pass up a chance to show you some of her work.

She's been taking pictures professionally for over four decades, working on film sets, magazine assignments and personal projects, as well as teaching and giving talks along the way.

She recently got back from teaching photography in Mexico, before that working on Tim Burton's new movie Alice in Wonderland.

Here is some of her previous work:

Part of her Rodeo collection for Texas Monthly in 1992


Duke Ellington


A piece from her Mexico Circus collection


Johnny Depp

Had to put in that last one of Johnny, whom she said was a beautiful person - I agree, Mary Ellen.

Her latest personal project was going to 12 high schools across the nation to document today's average American prom. One of the high schools was West Lake High School here in Austin. She said she was trying to capture a true "Texas prom."

It was really great listen to their interview - check the TMT Web site for when the show will be showing if you're interested in watching it, also look out for Mary Ellen's book compilations, including:

Seen Behind the Scenes: 40 Years of Photographing on Set.

Explore UT: Steamrolling

Every year UT hosts a campus-wide event for students, prospectives, alumni and Austin families called Explore UT. This past Saturday, March 7, UT put on this major event; however, one activity caught my special attention.

In the vast building of the Art building, there is a small little room for relief printmaking (see Flatbed Visit Post). For weeks, students, teachers and volunteers have been using it for the Steamroller-printmaking event that is a part of Explore UT, carving giant pieces of wood to make an amazing print on cloth by pressing it with a steamroller.

I took it upon myself to go and see this - I mean, when is the next time you're going to see some heavy machinery being used by a bunch of art students?

Here's a bit of what I saw:

Students cutting up linens for the prints

Woodblocks ready to be inked up

UT Alum Nick Glenn, Explore UT volunteer, and his woodcut

Students inking woodcuts

Steamrollin'!

Print complete!

According to the UT event description, presenters and artists also came from St. Edward's University, ACC and Texas State University. This was a great and unique event for both artists and observers. If you're interested in participating or volunteering for next year's steamroller event, contact Sandra Fernandez or Ken Hale.

Flatstock Intro

March is a great month for Austin - we become nationally recognized for the newest talents in music, film and art through one event: SXSW. I know I've talked a lot about it so far, but really, as an blog about creatives, there's no way around it.

Onto this SXSW topic - I love rock. I love art. I really love rock poster art. Rock posters have become one of my greatest passions, and it's planted itself into a career dream. Anyway, I mentioned previously an event a part of SXWS called Flatstock.


It's basically a poster extravaganza featuring graphic designers from Austin and around the world. A few of my favorite designers are going to be there, (you can see all of them here, my current fave is Dan Stiles, but take a look at Mark Pedini - fellow KLRUian and awesome graphic designer) and their posters are up for sale!

I recently found out that they will also be having silkscreen demos all day, everyday starting March 19 to March 22. There will also be a talk on Saturday at 2 p.m. from Mig Kokinda, a local poster artist, about taking ideas, cutting them into stencils and watching your vision come to life.

All of this is taking place at the Austin Convention Center, along with a ton of other stuff like the Record and Guitar Showcase, a few film screenings, arcade games, trade shows and more.

I'll leave you with this last bit of propaganda. SXSW is also showing a documentary called Died Young, Stayed Pretty, by Eileen Yaghoobian, about poster artists throughout the nation.


It looks awesome - and I am definitely going to be seeing it. Their Web site is pretty interesting too, at diedyoungstayedpretty.com.

Watch the trailer. Yes, that is a command.

Ventilo trailer is out!

A few posts ago I mentioned my friend Meredith Crandell's short film Ventilo. Well, the trailer is out, so take a look!

Don't forget to check for showtimes here.

Let's go fly a kite!

Today was the 81st annual Zilker Park Kite Festival, where hundreds of Austinites bring their wings, tails and strings and enjoy a sunny day of kite-flying.



This was my first kite day experience - I brought a hammerhead shark kite (Academy) - but there were dozens of other kites ranging from super-hero kites, to geometrically-shaped kites, to even a kite shaped like a pirate ship (I wish I had gotten a picture!). It was a pretty amazing sight to see, especially with such a beautiful blue-sky backdrop.

Many of the unique kites I saw came from Austin's World Wind Kites, a store completely dedicated to selling kites - and it is hard to believe how many different kinds of kites there are!

World Wind offers beginner, single-string kites for newbies like me or for kids, as well as sport or stunt kites for avid fliers.

As for avid fliers, after doing some research I found that there is a group committed to kite-flying in Austin called the Texas Skyriders Kite Club - no Web site, but headed by Kelly Reed of KiteDemos. Reed designs kites and was once a sport kite competitor, as well as a member of the American Kitefliers Association, endorser of many kite competitions.

Although the festival is over, don't let that stop you from grabbing a kite and heading outside! March 28 marks the beginning of National Kite Month, so try out World Winds, Academy, Toy Joy (the kites are in the back), or wherever you'd like to find a kite - or even make your own! Have fun flying!