SXSW: Day One

Chile's, T-storms and TexMex

When we arrived in Austin on Tuesday morning, we hadn't had much sleep and our heads were spinning from the insane twists and turns of the city's wacky highway system. This is probably what clouded our judgment to think that Chile's (right across the street from our hotel) would be the perfect dining option to start our Austin adventure. Unfortunately, whereever you go, Chile's is still Chile's. We spent most of the rest of the afternoon sleeping off our stomach aches...

Not necessarily a bad thing. The rest of the afternoon it stormed so insanely we half expected to see an infamous Texas tornado. Eventually it cleared up long enough for us to make our first trip downtown to pick of Kari's badge and my wristband for the event.

The badge vs. wristband thing is apparently kind of a big deal in Austin. The badges are treated with respect and swag (Kari received a goodie bag with everything from a free year subcription to Spin Magazine to some handy nicotine lotion -- for that special smoker who is trying to quit and looooves using lotion). Folks with wristbands receive a garden variety of restrictions. I'm looking at the wristband now (once you're fitted with one you have to wear it for the next 4 days) and it says fun things like "Many venues fill up" and "Badges will be given priority" and "Voild if stretched, severed or not snug on wrist." Feeling a little inferior, I drowned my sorrow in some excellent margaritas and veggie enchiladas at Chuy's -- recommended to us by Mymy and worth all of the 45 minutes we had to wait. Even if more stomach aches followed.

Fortunately, since our first day of the fest, I've found that wristband access isn't quite as restricted as I thought it would be - at least in some situations. More on that in Day Two. Check out Kari's SXSW blog for the latest. I'm the cameraman!

Oh I almost forgot! Above is a picture of Houston rapper Chamillionaire. He played one of the only showcases on Tuesday, but we didn't even come close to seeing it... more later!