sxsw

South by Southwest 2019 (SXSW) Days 9 & 10: The End

~ A Dude Abikes ~ Leave a comment

The smorgasbord of music, movies, workshops and more is finally over. I’m relieved and still recovering, but I’ll also miss the creative energy. I won’t miss the lines, craziness on 6th street, scooters everywhere and long days trying to see as much as I could. There was a Day 10 but it was mostly for gaming (though I did attend the softball game and barbecue). In this post I’ll do mini-reviews of the remaining three films I caught and share my thoughts about what it all means.

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South by Southwest (SXSW) 2019 Days 7 & 8: 3 Movies & 2 Bands

~ A Dude Abikes ~ Leave a comment

I’m sitting in the Elephant Room in downtown Austin, Texas at 10:45 on a Friday night, the second Friday of the huge conference and festivals, SXSW. It’s an underground jazz club — literally — it’s in the basement and named for the prehistoric mastodon fosssil in the stone wall. It’s in between the 40′ acts. Graham Reynolds and Golden Hornet just played his own compositions, a rock / jazz / classical hybrid with trombone, violin, standup bass, drums and him on keys. The cat can play. While people talk and drink, come and go, I decided to post this blog, or at least the beginnings of one.

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South by Southwest (SXSW) 2019 Days 5 & 6 = Walking. Weird. Wonderful.

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 3 Comments

After two more days of seeing films and comedy at South by Southwest, and walking well over 10,000 steps per day as a volunteer and then participant, I’m even more exhausted than last week.  But it’s Wednesday, so that means it’s time to tell y’all (who actually are reading this blog) what’s the big deal about SXSW. In addition to telling, I’ll do some showing. Continue reading →

South by Southwest (SXSW) 2019 Days 2-4: Some Stuff I Saw

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 2 Comments

I’ve seen some good stuff at SXSW 2019. Not as much as I wanted, because I’ve been under the weather, quite possibly germs from one of the many people I scanned into sessions last week. Or allergies compounded by trying to do too much and not sleeping enough, a common problem for A Dude who has too much to do and not enough hours in which to do them. Although I’ve biked downtown and in between a few venues, mostly I’ve walked alot. As in 10,000-12,000 steps per day, which is alot for me. So here are some words and pictures for you. For official SXSW photos, see this link.

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South by Southwest (SXSW) 2019 Day 1: A Dude Abikes Meets Yoga With Adriene!

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 2 Comments

South by Southwest (SXSW), the annual, huge, internationally-famous smorgasbord at the intersections of technology, creativity, business, and more began today in Austin, Texas. After four days volunteering for the educational conference (SXSW EDU), I was already exhausted. But having mostly earned my free platinum all-access badge, I wasn’t going to sit home all day and miss out. Although I got a slow start, I found my way downtown (by bicycle, of course) to join the festivities. Herein is my report.

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Mmm… A Melange of Musings on Monday

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 3 Comments

Sometimes there’s no one theme that presents itself for a post.  Instead, a mixture of many motifs manifests.  (Alliteration apparently attracts A Dude. )  I’ve noticed myself thinking about three main topics:   1) creativity, especially the art of writing, and the necessity of commerce; 2) all the bicycling I do (and to a lesser extent, walking and yoga), and 3) issues about nutrition and health.  Of course I also consider weightier things like the temporary end of the federal government shutdown, the sad passing of a former neighbor, and the goings on in the lives of friends, family and my town.  So I’m gonna touch on the three themes, and perhaps we’ll stumble upon some insight or wisdom useful to you.  But sometimes, a blog is just a web log of what’s going on, and its not going to change your life.  To quote the farmer in the movie Babe, “That’ll do, pig.  That’ll do. Continue reading →

10 Ways to Make the Most of South by Southwest (SXSW)

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 4 Comments

Research bands, sessions, films, etc. in advance. If you’re a middle-aged person like me, reading lists of younger music acts is like reading another language: you don’t understand a word. But unless you use the Filter by genre or Listen features on the SXSW app and also Spotify or other music streaming service, you are doomed to wander into random bars and are likely to get stuck listening to something you hate. There are also plenty of Twitter pages and websites that help you with making choices.

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