SXSW Gems

This is the one week of the year that I really miss living in Austin -- the week of the South by Southwest Music Festival. It's when the recording industry and lots of hopefuls descend on the little city to spend a week playing and listening to all kinds of indie music, watching dreams being made or stifled, and hanging out with musicians and music lovers in a surreal environment. Wandering the streets of downtown while this event is on feels a little like Vegas -- time has no meaning, except for keeping track of when your favorite band is going on stage, people roam around in a sort of daze, and everyone is there to have fun. It's a wonderful feeling to walk up and down the streets listening to all kinds of sounds wafting from each door. It's a great time.

This year NPR is acting as a clearing house, posting all kinds of info on the various bands playing, and is hosting an extensive list of links to live broadcasts from the various stages. I'm out of time tonight for posting info, but as these live broadcasts will be archived and available for quite a while, I will update this post with all the best links later in the week. So check back for a complete SXSW resource here. Until then, check out these links:

The Early Years (live)
Robyn Hitchcock (live)
The main NPR SXSW page
The Stooges (live)
Alexi Murdoch (live)
.