SXSWORLD

Johnny Cash performs during his Keynote address in 1994. The artist charged with following Cash's performance at Emo's later that night was Beck, having just released Mellow Gold. Louis Black remembers that Emo's show as the very rare occasion when SXSW employees skirted a fundamental edict. He recalled that at meetings, Swenson "would remind us several times, 'Remember, SXSW is not for you.' Translated, it means that your job and responsibilities come first by a long shot; don't take a break and disappear because there is some band you want to see. Staff had been called on the carpet for this. Except this year Johnny Cash was playing Emo's. This is the only time that I remember seeing most of the staff breaking the rule by showing up for a set. Good thing that Roland was there, as well." SXSW continued to grow through the mid-'90s, with high-profile moments including Todd Rundgren's keynote address at 1995's inau- gural interactive conference; a jam-packed show by Soul Asylum at the Terrace in '95; an outdoor stage show on Sixth Street in '96 headlined by Iggy Pop; an alternative-country showcase at the Split Rail in '96 that helped young acts Whiskeytown and the Old 97's get major-label record deals; and the addition of the new Austin Music Hall as another large-capacity venue. Still, some things stayed the same, especially on Sundays, when the fever pitch of the weekend revelry gave way to a sweet and wistful denouement. In the daytime, the softball tournament remained a huge hit, beloved for its barbecue and for the championship-game calls of colorful guest-announcing duos such as Mojo Nixon & Country Dick Montana and Joe Nick Patoski & Doug Sahm. And at night, a tradi- tion had developed at La Zona Rosa, where hundreds gathered to hear Alejandro Escovedo, the same musician who was holding court at the Hole in the Wall in 1991 on the night the original South By Southwest office caught fire. Erik Flannigan, who assembled the Escovedo live album More Miles Than Money from his recordings of several shows during the '90s (including the SXSW performances), had a simple take on what those shows meant to South By Southwest. "Alejandro's Sunday night sets at La Zona Rosa marked both the official and spiritual end of the fes- tival—a show for the die-hards, the locals, the staff, the hung-overs, and anyone else who just wasn't ready to let South By go for another year." Soon enough, the next year would arrive. H This is the second of five excerpts from the forthcoming SXSW Scrapbook: People and Things That Went Before to be published in the coming issues of SXSWORLD. The book will be published by UT Press and available in March 2011. Do you have a SXSW memory to share? Or a photo from an important show or event at SXSW? Send it to scrapbook@sxsw.com SXSW ORLD / F EBRUAR Y 2011 21 MARTHA GRENON

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