South By Southwest: The Prequel

Fun Fun Fun Fest was....fun, but, although they were months apart, and very different, it still seemed only to be a preview for the infinitely more fun times I knew I was going to have months later at South By Southwest.
SXSW is easily the biggest musical event in Austin, and arguably the country, and being the unemployed bum that I was, I was able to take full advantage of it and wear myself out completely on nonstop free live music all around town. Now, obviously SXSW is not meant to be entirely free, and to see the more high profile acts (Bruce Springsteen, Jay-Z, Jack White, etc) without waiting in a line HOPING against hope that you might be allowed to pay to get in, you had to buy a pass that was something in the neighborhood of $700. And, as I said, I was very much unemployed, so that was very much out of the question. On advice from Austin and SXSW veteran Claire, and the Godsend that was Showlist Austin, and, again, all of the free time an unemployed lifestyle "affords," I was able to see just about every artist I wanted to see for free, usually during the day, but plenty at night as well. I was planning on going it alone again just as I did at FFF, but in a clever move by the city of Austin, all schools get the week of SXSW off for Spring Break, in an effort to keep the kids from leaving the city for it, and this meant Renée, Small Child Wizard, had the week off, so she could adventure with me!
The Sunday before South By Southwest Renée, our good friend Henry, and myself went camping for a night at Enchanted Rock, a beautiful spot a ways outside of Austin.We figured it would be a good time to try and "get away from it all" before Austin got crowded by what one person told me was the equivalent to the population to all of Vermont. (No confirmation of this, but it sure felt true.) We hiked and camped and watched the sunset and drank and played silly drinking games and had an all around great time. Texas can be damn beautiful. 

On to SXSW...