SXSW festival - Wrap-up

In the aftermath of SXSW, the empty streets are a relief to the locals. The rest of the attendees now have the task of reviewing the events and asking themselves, "What the hell do I do with all this?"

Let's see...there is this pile of business cards that I should look through. There are also the volumes of notes I took during panels. Was there any good swag that I want to keep...(i.e., will I really ever wear a shirt with the HP logo on it)? And what was the name of that restaurant with the incredible tacos?

While it is known mainly as a music festival, SXSW has grown far beyond its original scope. It is now classified as An Act of God that sweeps through a city and catapults film and art, music, technology, and fashion into the laps of the rest of the world.

The major highlights:

Bruce Springsteen is a much better public speaker than we ever expected.

Every artist able to pack up and get to Austin has an opportunity to get some notice. Bonus points to those who set up on an empty corner (or in the middle of 6th Street) and just start playing.

Of the overwhelming cloud of musical artists, perhaps the best addition to the music scene was the introduction of Amykdala.com. Attending with the Berlin Music Commission, Steffen Hoellein and Jesko Marx unveiled this search engine for music. Through crowdsourcing and emotive design, Amykdala reinvents the navigation of songs and artists into a beautiful landscape of musical adventure. Our personal favorite of SXSW.

Art is building into every medium we know, as well as building new media for its own purpose. The digital novel is re-defining literature, and we can’t wait to see where else it will go.

Andrew Lewellen, Matt Kennedy, Samantha Gorman and Danny Cannizzaro held a Q&A panel to encourage more authors in this realm. Watch for more on their iPad app in the near future...