Yuri's Night, the world space party, is coming up soon! We'll be there, broadcasting live. To give you an idea of what it's like, here are some pictures from the 2007 event:

We have more pictures from Yuri's Night 2007 on Flickr.

I just want to apologize to everyone who has been waiting for the podcasts from SXSW. I'm slowly finishing the editing on everything, and we'll start posting them soon.

Austin is a ghost town this morning. The crowds have vanished. It's quiet. It's like a great tidal wave of people came and went.

Here's a parting shot, as of 11am local time in Austin.



Just 10 hours ago, these streets were packed, and music was blaring from all the venues. Pavilion tents were in the streets but have now been taken down. Almost everything is back to normal.

Saturday Night is technically the last night of SXSW. But it's also the night that many of the conference attendees head home, and a second guard of music fans arrive. The vibe changes some what: it's more of a party atmosphere and less of a serious music atmosphere.

Since we were busy packing up all the webcasting gear (that didn't work) and making a last mad dash to hand out SomaFM stickers, we only got to do a couple things, including crashing the SoundExchange party and catching Oppenheimer at Emo's, but missed seeing a few other people we wanted to see.

You see, that's the big problem with SXSW: you can't see everyone you want to see. Sets are short - usually under 45 minutes; and you end rushing between venues to try and catch people while they're still on.

Of course, Elise's approach is to just spend most of the time at Emo's and Emo's Annex, where many of the best bands play. Merin's approach is to just wander around from venue to venue and see what music calls out to you. (She caught a show by Why? this way; while I planned ahead to see Why? but ended up getting there right as they went off stage.)

One thing that's impressive is how punctual most performances are. My suggestion is to get the printed SXSW Music Pocket Guide, mark it up with the artists you like, and carry it with you at all times. Don't rely on accessing schedules over the internet, or on your mobile phone - it's much too slow.

There are over 50 official and unofficial venues. Just understand that you're not going to see everyone you want to see. Allow for some serendipity, you'll probably be pleasantly surprised by who you discover.

PS- We really didn't crash the SoundExchange party; John Simpson and Mike Huppe invited us. (I'll report more on what's going on with the SoundExchange negotiations next week.)

The internet is working for a little bit, so here are some updates:

Kate Havnevik did a great show. Imagine the musical experimentation of Björk crossed with the songs of Tori Amos. Her backing band was wonderful as well. She has a beautiful voice, and beautiful electronic/acoustic music backing her up. Expect to hear more from her on Digitalis.



Gil Mantera's Party Dream at Emos: hard to explain, must experience. More a show than just music (which was mostly sequenced and not breathtaking). But the show was worth seeing. May be offensive to some, but it's music to be seen not solely listened to.



Electropop up and coming superstars Why? did a great showat Emo's Annex, alas it coincided at the same time as the Bay Area Takeover. We made Merin go over and check them out, she really enjoyed their show. They're doing another show on Friday at 5:30 at Emo's Annex, part of Soundcheck Magazine's 2nd Birthday Party. Go see them.

Thanks to everyone who came by; hope you made it here while we still had "Free Beer!"- Thanks for Cliff at Iron Systems (the folks who did all the wireless network design at SXSW) for buying an extra keg... we chipped in for an extra keg because everyone was having such a good time too...

Way more people showed up than we expected; but that's good! Next year, we'll make sure there are more drinks available.

There is just a little time to go, and there is a short line outside (venue is at capacity) but it's not overcrowded inside, and everyone is having a great time.

We just witnessed some great performances by The Blacks, Loquat, and Von Iva just finished (and the crowd went wild!).

We're out of Tshirts, but we have more Indie Pop Rocks CDs (after this, we're totally out of them!!!!) and Bay Area Takeover CDs.

After this, Merin and Rusty are heading over to the Japan Invasion at Bush Park.

Gotta sign off and hear Scissors for Lefty.

Check back in soon!

Rusty / Merin / Elise at the Beauty Bar in Austin.

The folks at Justin.TV are webcast the outside stage live.

Watch live video from Bay Area Takeover archives on Justin.tv

We also recorded it for a podcast at a later date.

The internet in Austin has been a mess; Sprint and Verizon EVDO networks have been having problems in Austin due to all the people in town for SXSW. We haven't been able to access the net from our Sprint EVDO cards or even the hotel internet connection (Note to LodgeNet: your internet service SUCKS).