SXSWorld
Issue link: https://sxsw.uberflip.com/i/89251
Retracing the steps of SXSW's globetrotter. In his i rol trips, and o e as SXSW's Creative Direcctor, Brent Gru ke made frequent doome d thee ye r pr or to ulk ea p io o his passiing on August 13, 2012 was a no ex e cept m stic and overseas p ion. LOS ANGELES Nove v mber 2-4, 20 011 THE SXSW MUS CU IC PARTY AT THESU has been an annu outside having lunchnch on a sunny LA and saw Roger Daltrey si n al event since thee late '90s. A ffew yearra s ago we were sittin A affternoo S NSET MARQU S OTEL e Brent's attention, but he, with ce lelll phone n sittttining a coupple of tab s w y! notice or was trying to be aloof. But at the ar y ha nigh i UIISHOTE INLO LOS ANGELE year, he was the one everyone wanted to see. The firstts wordrds out of every- one's mouth were "Where is Brent?" or "Can you introduce Truth be told, Brent was the party. - Luann Williams (SXSW Sa es) nd oduce me to Brent?" SW Salles) September 11-20, 2011 MY PARTNER MARK GARTENBE INCREDIBLE DESTINATION especially our fi rst trip to Argentina together when on SXSW at Buenos Aires' BAFIM music conference.ce. Aftter NS, bu ternoon. I l lookooked up from the men ables away I kept trying to get ne inches ffrorom his face,ace either didn't e partty that night, an every other NGELES ng nu Ma XSW e Baarrc B RG AND I TRAVELED WITH RE but our trips to Soutth swarmed by musicians and record labels, many of whohom spoke no En buzzing with questions about how to play at SXSW.B en Brrent made time tto speak to each person with respect and interest, regardless of whether the were ever likely to really make it to Austin. The itinerary for our fi rst trip to Brazil included fi ve Brazilian hey far away from each other. Direct fl ights were only available in the middle of the night or early morning, so our group had to be ready at odd houdd o rs to hustle to an airport. Brent was always the fi rst one in the lobby, freshly show-how n cities, all quite ered and ready to go, even if he'd been the last one to bed the night before. Luckily, the rigors of that fi rst trip didn't deter him, and he made a number of others over the years. News of Brent's death traveled quickly through Brazil and we received an extraordinary number of condolences, even from Brazilians who only knew him as the person responsible for opening the doors at SXSW for Brazilian music and culture. - Tracy Mann (MG Limited; New York, NY) n we madee a presentat on e our talk, we we eerre English, WITH BR NT TO MANYY h America we erre special,l, entatiio At Primavera Festival in Barcelona, 2011 M y 26-28, 2011 WHHEN st see verrsatsa ons tht at we h iincred knew celon lectual experience for hiim w how dible E YOU RUN SXSW, YOU DON'T ALWAYS GET TO ACTUALLY ENJOY SXS . Fortunately, Brent Grulke's job as Creative Director also brought h hiimtot all kinds of foreign countries, festivals and conferences, where inin between meetings and appearing on other people's panels, he could just e. And hee made a point of watching Pulp with me, because he w muc wh something else. I also em mbe hi Point Never, who then made u h I llovoved tthatha band, but it was clearly more of an intel- m and halfway through he rushed off to see o remember him making a point to see Oneohtrix de it to Austiin ffo th or the ffo olllowing SXSW. After three days of non-stop festivaling, there was stil time out with Brent and two other SXSW staff members at an Ar owned steakhouse on in Barcelona, getting sass from the wa plowing through bottles of wine. But as you will read in Coohen (Austin, TX) everybody who spent time with Brent has a story just likike that. - Jason C h ill tim to hang A gentinan- waitress and n these pages, BRAZIL ee bands. I crossed paths with him at the Primavera festival in na in 2011 where we had the same sorts of music-geek con- haad w en we met in 1990. We agreed Pere Ubu were ad ARGENTINA 14 SXSW ORLD / N OVEMBER 2012