SXSWorld
Issue link: https://sxsw.uberflip.com/i/81866
Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips conducts the Parking Lot Experiment at SXSW in 1997. In 1997, even as the conference had become more well-known to the general public, SXSW recommitted to the music industry and Austin locals, ending the sale of wristbands to out-of-towners, limiting single-show tickets and increasing its hotel blocks. "Th ere was increased national participation by consumers, but all of our eff orts were going into making sure we didn't lose the industry aspect of the event," says Swenson. "Th e reason we began getting so many label buzz bands was because the industry side of the event became more established in the last half of the '90s." Th e last years of the '90s featured many other changes. In 1997 — still a bit shy of the ubiquitous-cell-phone era — the staff was given brand new lightweight walkie-talkies, only to fi nd they shared a fre- quency with Delta Airlines' ground crew. "We can just have them land the planes here,'' Roland Swenson told Austin American-Statesman writer Chris Riemenschneider, pointing to East Cesar Chavez Street from the Convention Center. It was also the fi rst year there were Wednesday showcases, a year after Lou Reed's Austin Music Hall booking provided competition for the Austin Music Awards. (Th e Music Hall subsequently became the awards show venue, and Reed would come to SXSW 2008 as keynote speaker). And while day parties were ultimately more of a 21st-century thing, they were already starting to proliferate. Th e popular Americana- tinged shows at Yard Dog Gallery began in 1996. In '97, reviewing a set by Masters of Reality at Emo's, Andy Langer of Th e Austin Chronicle proclaimed it "Th e Year of the Day Party." Little did we know. "A side eff ect of our making it more diffi cult for out-of-town consumers to attend SXSW was that eventually we pushed them into the unoffi cial party side of SXSW," Swenson acknowledges. 1997 was also meant to be the year SXSW moved beyond the little house next to the Chronicle, with construction of a new two-story building. By then, remembers Swenson, "fi lm and interactive occupied one of the three bedrooms, somehow managing to offi ce eight people in a 12 x 12 room. Th en, spring rains fl ooded the garage the music fest had occupied for fi ve years, forcing them into the kitchen of the main house." Alas, the offi ce wasn't fi nished until the stretch between the 1998 and 1999 events. Swenson told the Statesman's Riemenschneider that the days of working in cramped quarters were "probably the last time I knew everything that was going on at SXSW." And, well, the more things change ... former SXSW registrar Rachel band's plan to curry favor with the music staff . "I'm kind of stupid, because they said, 'Hey Brent, would you come downstairs, somebody's got something for you," creative director Brent Grulke told the Austin 'zine Geek Weekly. Th at something was a woman, brandishing a bottle of Jack Daniels. "I didn't know she was a stripper. Th ere were all these people gathered around to watch, and I was like, 'Hey, I'm busy, why do I have to come downstairs?' She didn't take her shirt off , and I don't know if she was predisposed to or not, but I wasn't predisposed to have her do it." Grulke also made a point of not learning which band sent her. Grulke had joined founders Swenson, Black and Barbaro as a director in 1997, along with Eve McArthur (operations), Phyllis Arp (mar- keting), and Hugh Forrest (the fl edgling Interactive event). 1997 was McGruder sums up the entire journey: "Oh! Th e evolution of the offi ces," she says. "From the original rabbit warren (on 28th Street) to the ranch- style house to the sleek modernist building that was immediately stamped with the … well, the ethos and décor of the original rabbit warren." Th e newer building's two-fl oor spaciousness would help thwart one SXSW ORLD / M ARCH F ILM- IA 2011 11 KAREN SCHIELY