From the time I arrived on Tuesday until I left the city of Austin there was never a lack of things to do. There were so many things to do in fact it was hard to decide what to do. You can attend panels or see influential people in music be interviewed, catch a day time show or attend a party, go to the tradeshow or even catch a music film. Here’s a rundown of what went down at SXSW 2006.  This is respect!
SXSW 2006 Photo Gallery Celebrity guests were not in short supply. There were interviews with: Neil Young and Jonathan Demme, Morrissey, Kris Kristofferson, kd lang, Sam Moore, Billy Bragg, Judy Collins, Herbie Hancock, Ray Davies and The Beastie Boys. The Beasties hosted an audience interview where the crowd asked all the questions. Some of the questions focused on their film: Awesome: I Fuckin’ Shot That, which is an excellent concert film, shot at Madison Square Garden. SXSW also saw film showings from Neil Young and Los Lonely Boys.  Neil Young Some top notch talent was in full force at SXSW: Morningwood, Belle and Sebastian, Damone, Nickel Creek, Dresden Dolls, The New Pornographers, Nora Jones, Rosanne Cash, The Beastie Boys, The Pretenders, Morrissey, Mogwai and more. Dresden Dolls did a very cool cover of “War Pigs” while Nickel Creek did and unexpected and sexy version of “Toxic”.  Beastie Boys Information on the business was not in short supply. There were dozens of panels to choose from which fit just about every taste. The “Crash Course” panels were great for artists to attend due to their comprehensive nature. Topics covered were: Management, Legal Matters, Design and Packaging, Internet Resources for Musicians and Press & Publicity. That was all in one day! Expanded topics included: Distribution, Content aggregators, podcasts, getting through to Music Supervisors and more.  International Songwriting Competition Booth If that wasn’t enough, the trade show provided even more choices. Tagworld (http://www.tagworld.com) was on hand showing off their wares as the MySpace killer with a music suggestion engine being debuted at SXSW.  Tagworld Many things make SXSW a pleasure to visit and a big portion of that was their dedication to technology. You could create your own calendar online for panels, shows and more. From there importing it into firebird, PDA or iCal was a snap. Want the entire schedule in the palm of your hands? Dump that baby on your iPod. Links and instructions made it so easy. Want to sample 1000 bands playing? Download them through a bittorrent. You could also stay up to date and time with any changes through SMS alerts.  Music IP free music discovery software With all of these things to occupy my time I really don’t remember eating. I do remember getting a hotdog from these guys.  There is plenty of good food around and of course beer. Start making plans to attend SXSW next year because you owe it to yourself and your career. And don’t forget to bring comfortable shoes because your feet will thank you.
SXSW 2006 Photo Gallery
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