Mike Ivey: Why not Madison-style South By Southwest?
AUSTIN, Texas -- Who cares if I haven't heard of the bands? Any act newer than R.E.M. is largely off the radar screen of this aging boomer.
But after visiting here last week, I know one thing for sure: Madison should come up with something like South by Southwest.
When I told our music critic, Rob Thomas, the family was heading to Austin to visit friends over Spring Break, he assumed I was going to South by Southwest. I didn't want to admit I didn't know much about it.
That all changed on the flight from Chicago when a dozen Asian hipsters wearing high-top canvas basketball shoes and 20-inch wallet chains got on board. Turns out, I was seated next to the mandolin player from Petty Booka, a wildly popular Japanese band fronted by two Patsy Cline look-alikes that does bluegrass covers of American pop tunes.
Sure, enough. After landing in Austin, I picked up a schedule and saw that Petty Booka was headlining a show at the Elysium the next night. I also noted several Madison bands on the docket, including The Gusto, Screamin' Cyn Cyn & the Pons and Droids Attack.
And that's the beauty of South by Southwest or "SXSW." It's not a single weekend concert at one venue -- like the now defunct Madison Blues Festival.
Rather, SXSW is a week-long happening where almost every bar, club, restaurant or gas station seems to be hosting a music show. Got a vacant parking lot? Put up a bandstand, start serving free beer and you're part of SXSW.
Actually, it's a little more organized than that. The event is produced by a private company called SXSW Inc. that boasts a full-time professional staff and produces a similar festival in Toronto.
The first South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival was held in 1987 with about 700 registrants. SXSW's original goal, according to its Web site, was to "create an event that would act as a tool for creative people and the companies they work with to develop their careers, to bring together people from a wide area to meet and share ideas."
No kidding. The festival draws an incredible collection of musicians, producers, artists, groupies and wannabes from around the globe. Bands will grab any opportunity to get heard, setting up on street corners or passing out free CDs of their tunes hoping someone will take an interest.
Today, the music portion of the event draws nearly 12,000 registrants. The film and interactive media events added in 1994 bring in another 11,000 registrants.
With all the different venues, attendance figures are hard to estimate. But official SXSW events counted 126,900 visitors in 2007, which includes 1,500 artists officially booked into the event and another 7,300 musicians who came to take it all in. The overall economic impact for the area is put at over $110 million.
OK. So Madison is never going to rival Austin on the music scene. And I'm not proposing trying to copy the size and scope of SXSW.
But why not a music festival here that could be run simultaneously through the various clubs and bars in town? Rather than competing with each other, participating venues could sell wristbands --like SXSW does --that would allow access to all the different locations.
Imagine the excitement along the East Washington Avenue-Williamson Street-Atwood Avenue "corridor" if the various clubs from the High Noon Saloon and the Brink Lounge to the Crystal Corner, Barrymore and Harmony opened their doors to acts large and small. Give the musicians of the Midwest and beyond a chance to showcase their talents.
I see stages popping up in the parking lot of the Blue Plate Diner or next to Star Photo. Solo acts could set up in front of the Willy St. Co-op or the Jenifer Street Market.
Maybe organizers could even convince Garbage to headline a free show in its hometown, like Spoon did in Austin during this past SXSW.
North by Midwest anyone?
mivey@madison.com
