SXSW

A few weeks ago Austin was saturated with musicians, hipsters, media, and music lovers with the South By Southwest Festival in town. Jim and I took the day off on Friday so we could enjoy some free music. A lot of the bigger shows in town require the official "SXSW Badge" which I think costs between $120-150 per badge. This badge gets you into the big shows for free (but you still have to wait in line). I'm not sure Jim and I are ready for the badge, but we certainly enjoy going to the free shows. And honestly, there are a TON of free shows each day and night of the festival. If you do you homework, you can also find the free shows with free drinks and/or food. And I do my homework by scouring the Internet... so we found a couple of free drink and food shows for Friday.

Since we took Friday off we decided to head out on Thursday just to see what we could find. We parked near 6th street so we kept walking until we heard music. We ended up at Mugshots where there were solo acoustic musicians playing. This guy's name was Paco and we really enjoyed his music. I don't know if he was local or not, but I would love to see him again.

After Mugshots we headed to a couple of bars but ended up at Shakespeare's. Jim ran into a work buddy so we stuck around there until we called it a night.

View from Shakespeare's balcony

Friday

We started with brunch at the Counter Cafe. Their Eggs Benedict is wonderful... they use a biscuit instead of the traditional English Muffin. We have only been there for breakfast, but one of these days we'll make it over there to try lunch. We have been happy with our food and service each time we have gone.

After our brunch/lunch, we headed over to Molotov. They were the closest and they had free shows and free beer. Yes Please, Thank You!

I'm sorry but I don't remember the band names :( This group had a slight Gospel sound to it and had a saxophones, so of course I enjoyed it! (for those of you that might not know, I played the alto sax in HS-- yes, I was a band dork)

Molotov had two stages, one down stairs and one upstairs. For the most part one would play while the other either broke down/put up the instruments but they also played at the same time. We went back and forth listening to the music.

The group all got around the drums with their own drum sticks and started playing the drums... made for a very cool drum beat.

Love the lights behind this guy

Jim's profile, watching the band

This band also had a DJ to spin the music (huh.. not sure if I am using the right terminology here)

This chick rocked it out on her own... she had a Janis Joplin raspy type voice. Loved it!

Howdy

Like I said above... I'm a sucker for a band with a saxophone (even if it is a tenor)

Who is that hot guy... looking all sexy leaning up on the wall :)

Taking pictures with my big Canon and holding a beer is impossible.

Enjoying the sun and music on the patio

This band by far was not our favorite. It was a hard metal, more yelling than actual singing, type band. Look at the singers red face... its because he is yelling! We listened to 1.5 songs before we decided to walk around outside to see what else we could find.

I had RSVP'd to a couple of other parties, but they were on the other side of downtown, and we were pretty content with staying around Molotov, especially since thy weren't very busy. And did I mention they had free beer? :)

We did end up over at Union Park and listened to a band and enjoyed their rooftop patio. We listened to a DJ and rapper, enjoyed a mojito before deciding to head back to Molotov.

*smooch!!*

Back at Molotov.... Had to laugh because this entire band had long hair and they kept swishing their heads around, so I didn't get any pictures with their faces :)

These guys were rocking it out upstairs.

After an afternoon of free beer, we needed something to soak it up. In comes the ginormous pizza from Frank and Angies. Look at that beast! We giggled when it was put down because the slices were enormous and we had o idea the pizza would be this huge. We had plenty of left overs for that week!

Saturday

On Saturday night we headed to a Yelp event at Iron Gate Lounge. Saturday's temperatures plummeted down in to the 40's that night, so it was a chilly night. I think there were bands playing inside and out, but we stayed inside due to the weather and due to the capacity issues. We didn't want to get stuck outside. Yelp was giving away free Lone Star Beer, a free shirt for those that RSVP'd, I heard there was food but we didn't eat any, and of course the music!!!

We hung out with Matt for most of the night. Dawn had won tickets for another show, so she was off trying to get int to that show (poor Dawn waited for a long time to find out that the show's venue was at capacity and they weren't letting any more people in)

This guy was interesting... he was a one man show. He sang, he worked the turn table, he played the Sax and occasionally he stomped his foot. That takes talent!

Another band at the Yelp event