South by southwest

Alas i was not at south by southwest but earlier this month my delightful and gorgeous cousin Jess was, working for T.O.N.Y. she got a heads up for the hottest gigs and free booze way down in Austin, Texas. Here's what she said about it.....

Gerrybee: Hi jess tell me about what you've been up to at SXSW....
Jess: I've been working for Time Out NY, they have a showcase there. Ravonettes, Joe Lean and the jing jang jong, X and The Donnas are part of our show.
G: Cool, who were the highlights?
J: In our show the ravonettes were great, I also saw the ting tings who were really great too.
G: hmmm.... the ting tings? seriously?
J: Yes. ha!
G: who did you miss and why?
J: well i really wanted to see vampire weekend, but to get into the venue to see them we would have had to have got there hours, if not days in advance. its the biggest problem with SXSW, there is so much to see and do that you end up missing out if you wait in one place to see a band. Also they're really funny about capacities, because the venues are often brimming with people even getting back in after a cigarette difficult. The people i was with all got stuck outside after nipping out for a ciggy leaving me on my own!!
G: but all in all does SXSW live up to its reputation as being one of the best music festivals?
J: oh I don't know about the best, but its certainly different to the rural festivals back in the UK and it really does have the best bands, both brand new ones and bands like REM in much smaller venues than the UK's massive festivals.