February 25th, 2010
I’ve been putting together a list of all the free-or-RSVP-required parties going on at SXSW this year. I’d asked people to pass along the info if they heard about these things going on, and I made too many promises to “do the same”, so rather than e-mail them individually, I started http://www.twitter.com/wristbandless.
Well, I have to figure out a way to pay for my gas money to/from Austin, so I have devised a plan. I’m selling these schedules for $10 apiece. Here’s the low-fi (also not necessarily comprehensive yet) version of Wednesday AFTERNOON’s for free. (Day/Night will be separate, for spacing’s sake.)
(Wednesday Afternoon’s Graph)
If you want Wednesday Night-through-Sunday’s, you can start ordering now (they’re $10 total for all 5 days/nights, and for all the money I’m saving you on free Food/Drinks, that seems fair… right?)
I’ll be e-mailing them all out on Monday, March 15th (by then, I presume I’ll have ALL the parties accounted for.)
If you want to order one now, you can! here’s the click-thingy to make that happen:
(Oh, and I’m also playing a SXSW showcase. I’m playing the Spin it Indie Lounge on Thursday, 3.18 at around 5pm.)
Posted on February 25th, 2010 by admin Comments
February 3rd, 2010
I got my official e-mail from SXSW a couple of days ago. It wasn’t an outright rejection, but it wasn’t very hopeful. The basic idea was “if someone drops out, we’ll give you a call. maybe. don’t hold your breath.”
To be honest, with no tours planned for 2010 (yet) I can see their point.
That said, I’m going anyway. 2008’s strategy worked pretty well (I didn’t go last year, due to the birth of my first kid) and I’m going to improve on it this year. Here’s how.
(and if you’re coming this year, please e-mail me and let’s hang out.)
Rule #1 – No Wristband? No Problem
There is a TON of free stuff happening at SXSW. I don’t know if “the economy” is going to mess that up this year, but I didn’t have a wristband or an artist pass in 2008, either and I was fine. I went with no expectations and stumbled upon a brilliant plan….
Rule #2 – Flip Your Inner Clock
The trick is totally flipping your schedule where the day starts about 9pm.
Here’s a brief narrative:
9:00am – wake up from “nap” and greet the “evening”. See, most of the stuff happening from 10am-2pm is free, and also open to the public. (I saw the Weakerthans for free with about 100 people last time.) Free music, Free food & drinks. (this is “dinner”)
2:00pm – all the free stuff is done, but the evening stuff hasn’t started yet. This is prime “meeting”/networking time.
4:00pm – Time for bed. This is when I get my best sleep of the day. (Without a wristband, I can’t even get into the evening concerts anyway.)
10:00pm – Wake up refreshed. Venture out for food. (this is “breakfast”)
11:00pm – All the afterparties are starting. More free music, more free food & drinks (and networking)
4:00am – Everything shuts down again. Find a 24-hour food place. Eat “Lunch”.
5:00am – Sun’s coming up, I’m taking a quick nap from about 5-9
Rule #3 – RSVP for Everything
This is where I have dropped the ball in the past. I’m a terrible plan-ahead-er. Plus, it’s not always easy to find out about these parties. This year, I’m playing detective and finding out about (and RSVP’ing to) as many of these free parties as I possibly can. This, I do believe, will greatly enhance the experience. I’ve started the twitter account “@sxswRSVP” so if *you* hear of any good ones, do let me know, and I’ll share what I find.
Rule #4 – Pack a ‘pack
That food isn’t free all the time. Usually it’s only from 10am-2pm. So bring something to pack extra food & drinks into. When your friends are paying $6/slice of pizza, you can be all smug: “hmm… no, I’m good, guys. I think I’ll have some more free chipotle burritos. I took like nine of them.”
I think that’s all.
If you guys know of any of those “RSVP-required” free parties, let me know. I’ll see you there!
-Levi
Posted on February 3rd, 2010 by admin Comments
January 26th, 2010
I wanted to clarify/expound on a couple of things, and then I’m going to drop it. (for now.)
Questions – honest, sincere questions – have a danger that we idealists like to pretend does not exist. It does not mean that they are to be avoided, but when you begin to honestly pursue answers, it means that you do so without an agenda. The point of yesterday’s post was not to just start spraying danger around in a cavalier fashion, letting it fall where it may. It was more along the lines of what an alcoholic might do: admitting that I have a problem and it needs to be fixed because whatever means I am currently employing are failing miserably. Until yesterday, those means were to internalize my doubts (mostly), sit silently in bed and ponder a question, then question the question, then question THAT question until I was six layers deep in a rabbit hole, and wondering how my mind could possibly have started out debating about getting up to go to the bathroom, and ended up at the conclusion that the very fact we have emotions means that it is both highly improbable and highly probable that there is a God, and then feeling both guilty and nihilistic as a result.
That’s what I mean by going insane.
Now that I have “outed” myself, so to speak, I feel that I have permission to speak freely. More importantly, I feel that I have permission to search freely. With no agenda. ASKING the questions instead of just thinking about them. So here’s where I stand as of January 26th.
I resolve not to feel guilty about honestly asking a question.
Alternately, I resolve to only ask questions out of a desire for the answer, not out of sarcasm or cynicism.
I resolve not to take the easy answer just because I want it to be right.
I resolve to base my decisions on truth, not on the people who I feel a kinship to (note: I feel a sense of kinship to both sides, depending on the subject)
I also resolve to keep you posted. I know some of you could not care less about this, so I’ll not do it here on the leviweaver.com blog.
I invite you to click this link here if you’re interested in progress.
(also, thank you all for the supportive comments on my last post. it really does mean a lot.)
Posted on January 26th, 2010 by admin Comments
