Tampa Calling

“What a diff’rence a day makes” – María Méndez Grever

The music portion of SXSW has begun and Austin is infested with indie rockers, scenesters, hipsters and musicians from all over the world. The snarky t-shirts and iPhones of the interactive and film portion have been replaced with leather, tight pants and guitar cases. And they’re everywhere.

Try to imagine if every bar, club and art gallery in Tampa and St. Pete tented their parking lots and had full concert lineups on indoor and outdoor stages for 6 straight days. It’s a lot to take in. Not to mention, the stimulation of the local economy here – from stage and equipment rental to groceries and clothing – is staggering.

These Arms Are Snakes at Red Eye Fly. More photos after the jump.

There are many methods of navigating the music portion of “South by.” You can meticulously plot your path, you can wander from bar to bar (if you have a wristband or a badge) or you can do a combination of both. Modes of transport can include car (shout out to Monica Armendazzle), cab, bus, shuttle, bike (they ought to rent these), rickshaw, horse-and-buggy, and finally your own two feet. 

Ivan is in town now, as well as some folks from Creative Loafing Atlanta, so we’ve been coordinating via text. This has worked to avoid overlap and to catch wind of “secret” parties such as last night’s Playboy Party held in a warehouse on E. 12th in which Jane’s Addiction played a surprise hour-long set. Word on the street is that Metallica will be doing a similar stunt tonight to promote their new Guitar Hero game. We’ll see.

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In my latest Bar Tab column I admit to being seduced by the mighty Wii for the first time. In fact, it was the first time I had played a video game since my crazy (lazy) college days. I enjoyed myself. But I still think the idea of wasting time on manipulating a fake, plastic instrument when you could be making actual music on a real guitar, is ridiculous. Yeah, I’m talking to you, Guitar Hero geeks. Anyway, here’s a bit from my column:

But my favorite part of the weekend — well, except for, y’know, giving thanks and spending quality time with the fam — was discovering the awesomeness of the Wii. Which is odd, because I have major issues with video games. In fact, a large part of me believes they are the reason this country no longer dominates the world the way we did in, say, 1956.

Continue reading “Wine Women and Wii: Wade has a new vice.”