This year's sxsw far surpassed all other previous years.  I guess it takes about 3-4 years to finally figure the whole thing out and I think this was the first time I haven't kicked myself for not going somewhere or seeing something.  So what made this year so good? 

PLANNING!  YEAAA!  

I mean serious planning people, massive spreadsheets were involved.  I was verging on spreadsheets for my spreadsheets it was getting so crazy.  The main two were a party spreadsheet and most importantly a band spreadsheet.  The band spreadsheet was basically a list of all the bands that were performing this year at sxsw with small reviews and a 5 point system.  Myself and four friends took ourselves on a journey of musical discovery, taking in as many bands as our ears would allow in a given day.  After almost 500 band reviews, we were ready to make our choices of parties based on who was playing at those parties.  Simple right? 

Once the event began, it was pretty much smooth sailing.  Sure there were bands I missed (Anathallo, you need to come back) but for the most part I was able to rock it hard for 5 straight days without paying very much for anything, the essence of a good SxSW.  Probably my favorite new discovery was the Central Presbyterian Church which held some pretty terrific bands including Anni Rossi, M. Ward, Lisa Hannigan and Laura Marling.

One thing you also come to realize about SxSW is that it is really a melting pot of 3 very specific cities.  I'm talking of course of Austin, San Francisco and NYC (Brooklyn in particular).  Of course this was also enhanced by the fact that I was hanging out with my friend Susan (and new friend Sam) both from San Fransisco all week.  But there's something to be said for this mini-bond that I believe our cities have...I'm not sure what it is that is to be said but it's probably wise and thought-provoking.  I'll get back to this next year if I notice the trend continues.