south by southwest

In many ways, Second Street has become the center of downtown Austin activity. With a dense mix of retail and restaurants, Austin City Limits, and the W Hotel, the 2nd street action continues to accelerate.

One of the ways that the City has made 2nd street social is by creating broad sidewalks with benches, rooms for outdoor cafe seating, and lots of trees and public artwork.

Now, the City plans to add these fancy features to the 2nd Street sidewalks between Congress Avenue and the convention center.

You’ve probably heard one of Friendly Fires’s songs whether or not you’ve heard of the band themselves.

For the past couple of years, their songs have acted as the backing tracks for all sorts of advertisements for companies such as Nintendo and Gucci.

The English alternative funk trio is currently on tour with Theophilus London in support of their newest album, Pala.

Having a gay or lesbian young person share their struggles of acceptance with their community can be one of the most rewarding experiences, if they are brave enough to do it, said John Livingston, the board of directors president for the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival.

”After all, we can’t expect people to include us if we don’t include them,” he said.

There are even more reasons than normal to be out and proud (or inside with air conditioning and a cold drink...and proud) in Austin this week.

With Austin Pride's official move to September, Pride Weekend now lands on the same week as the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF).

How appropriate!

If you’ve been in the Convention Center for South by Southwest even once in the past few years, you probably saw and maybe even talked to, a lot of panels (and dudes behind booths).

It can be an exhilarating and incredibly useful set of inspiring individuals and just as easily turn to sleep-inducing sludge (you can always blame the beer).

In a city that hosts ACL and South by Southwest, it's easy for smaller, more genre-targeted festivals to get overlooked.

Not that people aren't taking notice of Chaos in Tejas, though.

This year's iteration of the punk/hardcore/noise festival is its seventh, and features more bands than ever before swarming into the Red River district.

Incendiary?s a captivating documentary that attempts to take an even-handed approach to the investigation. However, at the point when it?s...

(via In Between)

Tim Hamblin and the Austin History Center have been working for months on an exhibit that marks 25 years of South by Southwest. 5X5Y: 25 Years of SXSW Music is on display in the main hallway of the center at 810 Guadalupe Street and will run until July 31.

But the official kick off will be Saturday March 5 at 4 p.m., with a panel discussion with SXSW co-founders Roland Swenson and Louis Black, moderated by Joe Nick Patoski.

Just like Arcade Fire, President Obama's administration is going on tour. His Startup America: Reducing Barriers tour has 8 planned stops, with the Austin one coinciding nicely with the South By Southwest Interactive conference, on March 12.

The focus of the roundtable talks is for top Obama staffers to hear from entrepreneurs and small business owners on how to remove regulatory growth obstacles.

No details on where exactly the talks will be held just yet, but stay tuned to the SXSWi site for panel information.