Anyway, to explain why I’m sitting in on these panels and interviews with CEOs and Internet nerds, it’s this…

Nowadays, SXSW has three separate but adjacent/overlapping conferences: Interactive, Film and Music. I’m here for the Music (primarily), but also the Interactive which is largely attended by and targeted to bloggers, Internet application developers, Internet gamers, and other well meaning nerds.

This is interesting to me (and should be to artists such as yourself) because finding, promoting and performing music is more and more in the purview of the Internet! Lucky for you, I’m here so you don’t have to be!

The reason to listen to music here at SXSW is less to see what’s hip or cool (I actually don’t hit the high “buzz” sites — no altered state references really intended), but rather to find those artists where I believe in their music and their ability to communicate it. Sometimes, I might like music without liking the message by the way…

By the way, the interesting thing about Zuckerberg as a “CEO and billionaire” is that he’s really a brilliant kid with a vision who was able to get people excited about his message and it turned into possibly more than his dream. Another thing artists like you and I can learn from him — think BIG! It might happen.

I am very concerned, however, that “business people” may be taking over SXSW Interactive from the plethora of geeks I saw here last year. I’ve seen much less pink hair and fishnet stockings and many more dockers and button downs (no gender implication intended, even though it sounds that way). I hope the geeks won’t let go of interactive to the big businesses, but we do need the big business to build platforms on the Internet from which to launch our communication, playing and learning about artists. I’m with you, however, in that I don’t want to BECOME one of those big companies.

Keep checking back here for a picture of me and Pine Top! And thanks for your Clapton-induced comments! As always, I love these discussions!!!! Keep playing! Anny

P.S. What are you thinking putting up a posting without a link to your web site!? Folks, you can hear about Kevin at http://www.myspace.com/newpinkcar (yeah, really or at http://www.kivarecords.com.

Just read your comments on Growing An On-line Community.

I’m sitting here with Eric Clapton “Bell Bottom Blues” and a glass of wine so all of these issues seem just a bit trivial at the moment; words like “leverage” and phrases like “information overload coming from social networks.” Only to be trumped by “engage with your fan base” and “understand the fan interaction technologies.”

I thought Texas was supposed to be flat but it certainly sounds like there are mountains high enough for pontiffs (not artists) to be professing what art and artists should be and how it should “channel” (I know a few marketing terms myself) to the “consumer.”

So here we go again. Nothing changes. Business people set the culture.

New technology. New opportunities and we’re going to f*$& it up by letting the language be driven by billionaire CEOs and marketing VPs. We will all get excited because…they must be right…look at the assets they’ve created. It’s the same old deal.

As an artist it just makes me tingle (not in a good way).

I would like to see Savvant Music “grow into a community which helps us find, support and promote great music of all kinds.” I fear however that too much exposure to CEOs, VPs and Managing Partners will keep that from happening.

How many practicing musicians are on the SxSW panels?

I apologize for being so outspoken but I lived through all of this in the 60’s when business took advantage of art during the transition into for-the-masses rock & roll by proclaiming “we know what’s best.” They did…they knew what was best for them. Ask John Fogerty and hundreds of others.

Something’s never change. The human species. It’s sad. It’s pathetic.

Oh well…have fun in Texas! Seriously…I might be negative about the industry but you can’t kill art. So artists always survive…Everyone remembers Bach. Only historians remember the organization behind him (and that’s only because they had to come up with something for their thesis). Same with Beethoven. It will also be true in the future with Benny Goodman, Elvis, The Beatles, Zepplin and others.

If you see Jimmy LaFave tell him I say “Hi.” He won’t remember me. We shot pool at Mark Shumate’s house back in the 90s after a Michael Fracasso gig at the Bluebird in Denver. I’ve always loved Jimmy’s version of Renee.

Well…I think we’re about to Layla so I’ll wrap it up.

If you want Savvant to be something legendary, take a look at the Windham Hill business model. You’ll be selling product out of the back of your station wagon simply because you believe in the message and the artists ability to communicate it. It’s got nothing to do with “hip” or “cool.” You’re committed because the artist and the message is just that important.

Love,
Kevin