music

We need to have a NXNW festival here in the Twin Cities. Sometime in the early fall would be a great.

#2 Is reason enough NOT to care about that hype fest in Bevoville

They had NXNW. It was in Portland. And kind of lame. To say it's not an industry party is really dishonest. Or naive. So I can head down to Texas and get into any show I want? Or will I be shut out by the industry people? Pretty sure it's the latter.

A NXNW would be great but too bad the majority of people here wouldn't get it. Too many buy into the mass produced music that is overplayed on Clear Channel stations and think that is all there is out there for bands. Luckily there are a few that get it and that there are bars such as Lee's Liquor Lounge that look beyond mainstream and bring in quality music. A must-see band at SXSW is Uncle Lucius.

This used to be a happy little experiment where you could catch a few new bands each year. Marketing hype and music company tyrants have turned it into a benign music crapfest, on par with American idol. When things get too big, they are often ruined by greed and overindulgence. This is a prime example. Btw, tapes n tapes? Kanye? Junk.

SXSW is one of those weeks that some of us Austinites dread, and one of those weeks to find other things to do, outside of an increasingly crowded and expensive downtown. Please pick up after yourself, and have a safe trip back to wherever you came from.

Actually, Chris, you just provided 0 reasons to care about SXSW. Unlike a teenage girl, I don't follow the tweet history of Har Mar Superstar. I would, however, perhaps like a review of some of the local acts you were sent down there to cover. Too much to ask?

Thanks, Bucky, I'm glad you want the local coverage... as you can see by the words and photos, it's the #1 point of interest here in this article, and you can see all the MN bands so far featured in the other preview coverage this year and reviews from past years at www.startribune.com/sxsw. When's your band playing?

Minnesota's Livewires will be there with custom in ear monitors.

Portland still has NXNW, but it's now called Music Fest Northwest (MFNW). I attended last year and I found it far from lame. MSP could easily replicate the model of an extended weekend of a broad variety of music at multiple venues - we are just as talent rich as Portland (or more), and certainly more diverse. And can pull in outside "big" names just as easily. Somebody get on that!