SXSW 2012

From downtown domes to rap and rock royalty, SXSW parties keep growing

SXSW 2011
Photo by James Buchan

Five-story-tall stages. Multiple domed structures popping up all over downtown. The Boss.

This year’s South By Southwest will be more big and “out there” than ever.

Take a wander over to downtown Austin’s warehouse district — west of Congress between 5^th St. and Cesar Chavez — and you’ll see the construction crews, staging and other signs that the area is going to be busier than normal during this year’s SXSW, which kicks off on Friday with the Interactive conference.

Don Pitts, City of Austin Music Program manager, said more large-scale promotions are headed to the warehouse district and staying for a longer period this year, making it the segment of Austin that will see the most growth in SXSW activity. That assessment came based on a review of single- and multi-day sound permits submitted to the city ahead of the music, film and interactive festival.

With the deadline to apply for outdoor sound permits passed — Monday, Feb. 27 was the cutoff for SXSW events — Pitts said the city received 95 permit requests and approved 83 of them, with a marked increase in multi-day events up to 61 locations this year versus 45 last year.

But it’s the increasingly grandiose nature of the events that’s going to draw attention. As evidence, Pitts pointed to several domes being erected for parties, or a 52-foot tall stage on Red River near Fifth Street that was proposed by planners to have attendees careening down a 70-foot slide.

“They wanted a 72-foot (tall) structure with people getting down from the stage on this giant slide, but we brought them back to reality on that one because we don’t want patrons sliding from up that high,” Pitts said Monday. “You’re seeing a little more elaborate setups on these events, and we’re trying to make things as safe and manageable as possible.”

As part of the newly revised application process, permits were reviewed by a committee made up of representatives from the city’s police, fire, emergency medical, code compliance, special events and development review departments.

By involving more departments in the permit review process, city officials hope to avoid snags that occurred last year, such as fence storming during the Strokes concert at Auditorium Shores, or the shutdown of several events along South Congress that lacked noise permits.

While Pitts had speculated about possible street closures, shuttle service and centralized food courts to ease foot traffic and flow of more than 220,000 festival attendees, none of those measures were deemed necessary this year.

For the most part, large outdoor events are concentrated in the same general areas that have become popular in recent years, such as East Sixth Street, East Fifth Street, near the Austin Convention Center and in the warehouse district.

Pitts wouldn’t name specific artists because some promoters are still working to finalize their deals, but he said all signs point to a big influx of hip-hop and R&B talent this year, though nothing that will create an planning headache like last year’s late-developing Kanye West/Jay-Z concert at the Seaholm Power Plant, which is under reconstruction and no longer available as a venue.

“The frustrating part is a lot of them want to be very secretive about who they’re bringing in to play and we have to explain to them that we won’t tell them they can’t have someone come here, but we have to know so we can be prepared for their event,” Pitts said. “People with South By and others who know what’s going on say that Bruce (Springsteen) is about seventh in order of popularity of the acts that are going to be here.”

Pitts met with Austin police on Monday to review the department’s plan for the festival and said the new review process has helped police anticipate what parts of the city will need more attention for things like pedestrian crossings and general order.

“They’ll have more officers available to work, though it’s not going to be in any overbearing presence,” Pitts said. “It’s refreshing that we’ve got so much communication happening now to know what’s going on all over. South By, it seems, has a much better handle on everything this year as well, and so even though this has been a ton of work we think there’s going to be a lot more awareness all across the board.”

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Belles of the Ballroom

9 Austin bar and venue experts take over popular Old Austin space near UT

29th Street Ballroom/Facebook

Changes are coming at the 29th Street Ballroom, but the goal is to preserve what already makes it special.

The evolution continues at the 29th Street Ballroom, the music venue formerly attached to Spider House Café. It's no secret, Resound Presents CEO and co-founder Graham Williams says, that he and a large team of other industry pros are taking over the space; but now they're ready to talk about what comes next for the venue and adjoining bar.

Although Spider House Café closed in 2020, the Ballroom stayed open, and has continued serving University of Texas students and anyone else who wants to see a show outside of the ordinary: punk shows, burlesque revues, fundraisers, and more. It'll stay open through most of the renovations, scheduled through January of 2025, and is expected to hold a grand opening in March.

Now Resound — one of Austin's top live music organizers, which was itself born from the ashes of another Austin institution — is lending two of its co-founders to managing the space going forward: Williams and Ian Orth. They're joining seven other team members from venues around town, many of them overlapping: Amy Mullins, Brian Tweedy, Jason McNeely, John Yaklin, and Shannon LeBoeuf of Hotel Vegas, Chess Club, Kinda Tropical, Tweedy’s, and Yellow Jacket Social Club, in varying capacities; and Brian Buscemi and Mike Sanchez of the Little Darlin’.

Williams emphasizes that although things will be changing at the Ballroom, the goal isn't to change anything people already love.

"Over the next few months as we kind of ease into the spring, we're using this downtime to revitalize things, decorate, revamp some of the stuff in the venue and the bar, and just kind of get things moving in the right direction," Williams says, "taking what's already popular about the venue and just adding to it, really."

Bar updates
The biggest shift will be turning the bar from an accessory to live shows into its own entity that's open even when there's nothing else going on. Amy Mullins, best known as a co-owner of Yellow Jacket Social Club, is overseeing that transition. She's never operated a venue that is primarily focused on music, and has been enjoying learning more about how to do it; she even worked the door recently when a staff member called out sick.

Mullins echoes Williams in assuring that the change is more about logistics than tone. It'll still feel like Old Austin, but she does express a hope to run more than the "typical venue bar," handing out simple drinks as quickly as possible. She's working on a new menu that includes wine, beer, craft cocktails, and non-alcoholic options like tea, kombucha, or mocktails. Regardless of what's on the schedule on any given night, Mullins says the menu will stay the same.

"There's no drink too complicated for us to make, however busy we are," she says.

Food options
Another goal for the team will be making sure the space works when there's not someone onstage to crowd around. They'll expand the front and side patios and create a food truck food court that features the same trucks that are there now, plus one newcomer. All in all, that includes Yalla Burger & Wings, Gyro Center, Li’l Nonna’s Vegan Pizzeria, Guppy’s Indian Fried Chicken, Waylon J’s BBQ, and Ay Chihuahua Tacos.

The expanded patio will connect to Tweedy's Bar next door, which also has its own food trucks. The idea is to create a space to hang out after shows that feels fit for the purpose. It's possible to stick around after events now, but the layout does create a vague feeling of loitering.

Artist and fan-friendly tweaks
On the entertainment side, Williams says some of the renovations include putting in a new sound system, redoing the green room, updating the facade, and repainting signs. Since the winter is a slower time for live music, they'll be taking advantage of the extra time to work on things before packing the calendar with more events than before. Resound will handle most of the bookings in live music, comedy, and DJ sets, welcoming both national and local talent.

Whatever the details end up being, this team has proved to Austinites that they know how to run venues worth visiting. And since they're all friends and business partners on multiple levels, it sounds like having this many cooks in the kitchen just isn't an issue.

"Some of us have been roommates and known each other since we were young," says Williams. "It's a good mix of people who are all very like minded, so a lot is being brought to the table per decision. So yeah, it's it's really exciting. Sometimes that's not the case. .... But with this project, it's a lot of really great, creative people that are good at what they do [and] they trust each other."

bars live music concerts comedy