After a Fashion: Thursday
Gosip
By Stephen MacMillan Moser, Fri., March 16, 2007
TRENDSPOTTING Spotting the differences between SXSW Interactive, Film, and Music attendees can be a dodgy proposition, so for your edification, we've provided some tips. Interactives can be somewhat myopic and lost in their virtual realities, eyewear is about function rather than fashion (yes, we even saw the clichéd glasses held together with tape). Baseball caps still reign among that set, covering everything from baldness to homemade haircuts. T-shirts ("St. Pat Is My Homeboy" and "Friends Don't Let Friends Use Windows") and shorts are de rigueur, even on the chilliest nights. Filmgoers espoused a more safarilike look – lots of pockets brimming with party passes, notebooks, and Kleenex (everyone seems to have a cold or allergies). Sunglasses cropped up when it was sunny (and even when it wasn't), and somewhat more stylish eyewear gave a certain look of intelligentsia. Film producers, however, dressed better than most and could be spotted by their laptops. And the music fans seem to have diversified somewhat – driving past Stubb's last year, every single person in line had on baggy jeans and a blue hoodie. This year the hoodies are gray. The rain brought out an array of festive ideas for covering up: One group of garbage-bag attired visitors looked like something from a Pat Benatar video, while another couple ran down Congress, badges flying, with pizza boxes on their heads. Fortunately, the rain kept the flip-flops down to a minimum because none of the three groups of conferees are especially invested in foot care.
RANDOM NOTES Director Robert Rodriguez showed an early clip from the movie Grindhouse, in which he has a segment called "Planet Terror" ("The way they scratched it up to look old was awesome!")… The casts of Friday Night Lights and Lion King were spied out shopping on the chic SoCo strip (no, not together, silly!)… Interactive attendees bitterly complaining about the quality of wireless connections at the Austin Convention Center ("Dude, this conference is about technology!").
CIRCLE-ING The premiere party for Marcy Garriott's new film Inside the Circle was a kickass affair, just like the film is. Inside the Circle captures the raw power of a grassroots hip-hop movement in the heart of Texas, telling the story of two strikingly talented B-boys Josh and Omar, former best friends who become dance-floor rivals. Immersed in the B-boy culture of defiant creativity, the gritty and gripping film follows Omar's rise to international renown, while Josh tangles with the law. Garriott really knows how to capture it all on film, and she throws a mean party as well, featuring the film's promo posters designed by Marc English. Fabulous food by Blu African Catering, candles, gorgeous flowers, and white tablecloths. Soundtrack musicians DJ Baby G and Bavu Blakes performed, as did Adrian Quesada's live funk band Brownout. The feet just couldn't behave, and there was plenty o' dancing, with B-boys and B-girls breaking in the "circle." Two hundred people were expected, 400 people showed up. Good work, Marcy!
BE THERE Thursday, March 15, 8pm (Red 7, 611 E. Seventh) Norton Records blasts off their showcase with the legendary Mary Weiss and the fabulously hot Reigning Sound, along with Sam the Sham, the Alarm Clocks, the A-Bones plus Dexter Romweber of the Flat Duo Jets at this showcase deluxe! Mary goes on at 12:45am... Thursday-Saturday, March 15-17, 12-6pm, FactoryPeople (1325 S. Congress) presents the Anthem Magazine Lounge, where SXSWers can sip cocktails, check e-mail, and listen to DJ sets from world-famous DJs, and get free makeovers from MAC Cosmetics. See www.factorypeople.com for more details.
