Ah, South By Southwest. Great concept, too far from me. Road trip! It seems like everyone goes on vacation to some exotic location to do the sort of thing they probably could have done in their own back yard. To correct this societal lapse of judgement, I think it's important for me to take advantage of unique stuff that happens locally. Since I hadn't done anything in a few weeks and South By Southwest is so impressive, I decided to declare Austin "local." If people come from california to see it, I can probably drive a few hours, right? So me and my gal loaded the grannywagon and took off. Animal crackers? Check. Three and a half hours of cruizing and a full hour of weaving in drunken bee lines around the city looking for parking. Two years in a row now, I've gone down the same back alley in the middle of nowhere, thinking "Next year I'll remember that parking sucks." Buzz buzz, u-turn, buzz, parking garage. We went to see what I guess you would call a review... six bands I want to see, all in the same place, on the same night. A sampler, maybe. Each one got 30- 45 minutes to give us all a taste of their wares. Enough time for a few new ones and a few old favorites and then on to the next. Some bands I want to sit and listen to for two hours. But when I'm a non-drinker, non-smoker in a bar, I really want time to pass quickly. I get to see and support the bands, but don't have to suffer for their art. Number one bragging right of the evening? Minnie Driver. No, not a band called Minnie Driver (as I'd thought months earlier when learning about it.) The actress, Greatest Thing About Will & Grace, walking around in the crowd and then singing very well, Minnie Driver. I've seen her in person. I've been close enough to trip her, if I wanted to unleash my middle-class insecurities on her famousness. I've been a part of a grass-roots movement to launch her singing career, which apparently she was working on even before she started acting. That's right, I'm better than you. No, no. That's my middle-class insecurity again. Sorry. Long, late drive home because the gal and I are too cheap to pay for motels and too fond of our own beds. Had an allergy attack. That was fun. Very eventful day. And now, in the Tourist Karma, I've cancelled out some family that flies all the way to New York just to go to a museum.