Last Thursday was one of those rare days when it seemed like the moon and the stars all aligned to form a cosmic rarity. Austin was instantly transformed into 'the-place-to-be' as the trifecta that was SXSW, St. Patrick's Day and Spring Break took over the city. Not to mention it was the first day of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Needless to say, the city was literally one huge-ass party!!
Although Laura and I did not have a SXSW badge or wristband, I learned this year that you really don't need one to have loads of fun at the festival. Years ago when I lived here, I did not remember as much free stuff going on for those of us without badges. Now the festival serves as a major PR event for companies to throw elaborate parties with big-name acts performing, in order to get huge exposure for their products or services (see: Kanye, Jay-Z, John Legend and others at Seaholm). All the while, fans only needed to RSVP to get into these parties which makes for a perfect alternative for those not willing to shell out hundreds of dollars for official passes. An unbelievable amount of A-List stars visited our city over the last 10 days which made for some awesome story-lines all week.
Since I did not realize how much free stuff was available to us and I was busy working most of the week, Laura and I had to wing it and see what fun we could find that day. We did manage to watch some Gators hoops action, see some live music over at the Ginger Man under the moon in the heart of downtown (pic. above) and finally had a nice late dinner at Bess Bistro. I was also lucky to have some of the stars at SX visit me over at Uchiko for dinner: Danny DeVito, Jodie Foster, Rosario Dawson and Aziz Ansari. All in all it was a great day of fun and has been a fabulous 10 days for SXSW and Austin. We will be better prepared for next year and will definitely take more advantage of all the free activities!!
Happy St. Patty's Day
Although Laura and I did not have a SXSW badge or wristband, I learned this year that you really don't need one to have loads of fun at the festival. Years ago when I lived here, I did not remember as much free stuff going on for those of us without badges. Now the festival serves as a major PR event for companies to throw elaborate parties with big-name acts performing, in order to get huge exposure for their products or services (see: Kanye, Jay-Z, John Legend and others at Seaholm). All the while, fans only needed to RSVP to get into these parties which makes for a perfect alternative for those not willing to shell out hundreds of dollars for official passes. An unbelievable amount of A-List stars visited our city over the last 10 days which made for some awesome story-lines all week.
Since I did not realize how much free stuff was available to us and I was busy working most of the week, Laura and I had to wing it and see what fun we could find that day. We did manage to watch some Gators hoops action, see some live music over at the Ginger Man under the moon in the heart of downtown (pic. above) and finally had a nice late dinner at Bess Bistro. I was also lucky to have some of the stars at SX visit me over at Uchiko for dinner: Danny DeVito, Jodie Foster, Rosario Dawson and Aziz Ansari. All in all it was a great day of fun and has been a fabulous 10 days for SXSW and Austin. We will be better prepared for next year and will definitely take more advantage of all the free activities!! 
Happy St. Patty's Day
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