SXSWORLD

with music—were also on the horizon. The first, in 1993, was the Mississippi River Music Festival (MRMF), in St. Louis; two years later came North By Northeast (NXNE) in Toronto, and North By Northwest (NXNW) in Portland, Oregon. NXNE, which is still held every year in June, was not run by SXSW, but there were tangential ties between the two festivals, indicative of SXSW's increasing inclinations toward international involvement. The biggest change for the conference in 1993 was the relocation But other satellite events—ones that actually had something do do from the Hyatt, where SXSW had found some stability from 1990-92 after hotel-hopping in its first three years, to the newly built Austin Convention Center. "Holding an event in a convention center is a pro- foundly different proposition than in a hotel, and we had to rethink how we did the entire daytime event," Swenson reflected. "Our attendees, as usual, longed for the earlier, simpler days of SXSW, and missed the Hyatt, as did we. Still, it allowed for a significantly larger trade show, and even more panels and speakers. For the first time, lack of space was not an issue; figuring out how to use more space than we really needed was the challenge." In the clubs, another challenge arrived as satellite shows that were not officially affiliated with SXSW began to proliferate. The most notable in 1993 was a Jimmie Dale Gilmore-centered showcase at the Broken Spoke that featured his Elektra labelmate Arthur Alexander, a legendary pop-soul artist and early influence on the Beatles and Stones who was in the midst of a career resurgence. Sadly, it was short-lived; Alexander died of a heart attack less than two months later. "During one of their extended ovations," Gilmore remembered about that night, "I glanced over and noticed the giant Arthur with the giant gleaming smile was wiping tears from his eyes." Over the next couple of years, such unofficial showcases became increasingly prevalent during the daytime, as labels, agents and publica- tions began staging promotional parties in just about anywhere a P.A. could be set up. The 1994 and '95 editions of the conference also wit- nessed the sprouting of non-musical branches to the SXSW tree: first a film festival, then an interactive event. "By 1993, SXSW was well-established and thriving enough that As a panelist and an honoree during the "Celebration of Texas Independents" at the South by Southwest Film & Media Conference in 1994, Richard Linklater was a highlight of SXSW's first foray into film. we began to get serious about doing something with film," recounts co-director Louis Black, who was well-connected to the Austin film industry. "We figured it would be a small focused boutique film festival, both to complement SXSW Music and let us all indulge in our love for film. Early on, to differentiate it from music, there was an attempt to call it the South by Southwest Film and Media Conference, SFMC for short, but that never took hold." The "FMC" part of the acronym also underscores that the 1994 expansions was actually an attempt to combine the film fest with what would eventually become the interactive conference. "The event gained immediate traction, and the technology track was stronger than we would have guessed," Swenson recalled. "We made the decision to divide the new event into separate events for 1995: SXSW Film and SXSW Multimedia. We also decided that the two new events would be totally overshadowed if we held them concur- rently with SXSW Music, so we moved them to the weekend before, and SXSW became a 10-day event." Another turning point after SXSW '94 was the departure of co- founder and music director Louis Jay Meyers, who left to pursue other avenues but kept his ties to the event through the SXSW golf tour- nament he had created as an opening bookend to the closing softball tourney. "I was completely burned out," Meyers explained. "There was no doubt in my mind that I had given it everything I had and it was time for me to step aside in order for it to achieve its full potential, whatever that was meant to be. For me, the whole reason we created SXSW was to support a community that we felt was ignored by everyone else in the world. Once we outgrew that ability, my interest was diminished." 20 SXSW ORLD / F EBRUAR Y 2011 Todd Rundgren was the first SXSW Interactive Festival Keynote in 1995. But mostly, everyone still remembers 1994 for Johnny Cash. Newly signed to Rick Rubin's American Recordings at the time, The Man in Black delivered the keynote address, which included quite a few songs performed solo acoustic. "Cash came out alone with his guitar," Swenson remembers, "and held the audience transfixed for half an hour, sharing new songs from the album and telling stories about his life. He concluded by calling us all his 'Grandchildren.'" Later that night, Cash played a now legendary showcase at Emo's with the Tennessee Two. ("The chair he sat on is somewhere up in the club's rafters still, I believe," noted Chicago Tribune rock critic Greg Kot, who attended.) GEORGE R. BRAINARD MICHAEL CRAWFORD

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