FESTIVUS 2009: Days 1-2

Hoo-baby! It's Festivus time once again, a.k.a. the South-By-Southwest Music, Film & Interactive Festival in grey and drizzly Austin, Texas!

This year, I've actually managed to score myself a press pass as a correspondent (along with my hosts, Scott Von Doviak and Maury the Wonder Chibeagle) for The Screengrab on Nerve.com (although I haven't actually done any official corresponding yet, mainly because there simply hasn't been any time in the SXSW whirlwind thus far).

It's Sunday morning and Scott and me are just rolling out the door for some breakfast tacos at Katz's Deli, but stay tuned for plenty of rock, roll, trolls and mumblecore after a short pause for station identification!

Mmm...breakfast tacos...

Okay, we're back...so, Friday, after a ridiculously busy fortnight of writing, teaching and very special Somerville guest stars (including Heidi, Jody, Janine and U2), I kissed Zuzu and my lovely Polish bride goodbye and cabbed out to Logan Airport, where (for maybe the first time ever), I utilized my Amazing Race skills to snag an earlier-than-ticketed flight to TX on the most excellent wings of JetBlue (while all the poor bastards flying American Airlines were screwed, as usual, judging by an increasingly grim series of terminal announcements).

I was literally up the entire night before my flight (trying to finish up a project), so most of Friday was a blur of booze and exhaustion as Scott and I drifted from the massive Austin Convention Center (for press credentials), down Sixth Street (for booze and, eventually, a delicious, restorative Sergio Leone pizza at Frank & Angies), then out to the Tiniest Bar in Texas for a performance by The Box Spring Hogs, a most excellent Tom Waits cover band whose outdoor performance was, unfortunately, cancelled due to inclement weather. The night ended with a blur of hipsters at the opening night party, where somebody stuck a fake mustache on top of my real mustache (as part of a tie-in with the upcoming SXSW premiere of I Love You, Man).

I was a bit more awake Saturday, when Scott and I hooked up with fellow Screengrabbers Hayden Childs and Leonard Pierce (on special assignment for the Onion) for a screening of Beeswax, a mumblecore "legal thriller" by Boston's own Andrew Bujalski (which I'll review for the Screengrab later today or possibly tomorrow).

After debriefing over cocktails at the swanky Driskill Hotel (a.k.a. the Dressed-To-Kill) and pub grub at the Casino El Camino, we made our way to the Alamo Drafthouse for a screening of Winnebago Man, a film about this guy:



The man (Jack Rebney) and his Winnebago were on hand for the premiere, but they stopped admitting people to the packed house JUST as Scott and me got to the front of the line, so instead we wound up seeing American Prince, a film about this guy, followed by Best Worst Movie, an irresistably charming film about the inexplicable cult success of Troll 2 and an early contender for my Best of 2009 year-end Top Ten list. (Stay tuned for my review of the film here and Scott's review on The Screengrab.)

Anyway, Scott and me are getting ready to head out for another round of screenings, so that's all for now, but stay tuned!

SXSW Celebrity Sightings To Date: Indie maven John Pierson, corpulent geek overlord Harry Knowles, uber-Slacker Richard Linklater, Dazed and Confused star Wiley Wiggins and, according to Scott, Jeffrey "Hey Now!" Tambor, both at the opening night party and later in a men's room at one of the screenings (though I missed him both times). Hey now!

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Below: the American Prince (Steven Prince), bar dogs, the Best Worst Movie gang, Sissyboy, my esteemed colleagues and Lesley, the unofficial mayor of Austin...