A Taste of SX

(I'm not sure if the title is an acceptable contraction or not.  In spoken terms, we refer to South by Southwest as "south by" and so it makes perfect sense to me to shorten it to SX.  Plus, it has the titillating advantage of being so visually close to "a taste of sex"!)

As noted previously in these parts, I don't really do SXSW.  I've gone to five or six film events but I can't remember any music events that I've gone to.  I don't say this as a point of pride, more of an explanation why the blog hasn't turned wall to wall music and film.  I don't really care for crowds, in fact I actively dislike them and so slogging from one crowd to another would be one version of my own personal hell.  Which is a shame, really, because some cool acts come through town and SX really does have a lot to offer on both the film and music side.

I just read a post by Spike Gillespie over on Austinist that really captures the why I stay away and the what I'm missing out on, I Am So Popular:  I Am A Strong Black Woman:

<em>So Day One of SXSW was, for me, more shitty than not. I ventured out to
catch some daytime music. There were a couple of bright spots, like
watching my kid play on a big stage. But, as I detailed over at my blog,
this being a town of minus six degrees of separation on a regular day,
SXSW unfortunately boosts the typical glut of negative opportunities to
run into known assholes better avoided.