Oh, I could feel it coming…and I hope it continues to rain with the fury of Austinites everywhere. So, I wrote about SXSW for Venus (their website). I imagine it will be posted sometime today. The real story of SXSW is how they revoked press badges for a number of perceived infractions from several magazines, namely Chunklet and The Edge.

It’s all over the blogs though I haven’t seen it more widely reported. I certainly don’t expect to read about it in the Austin Chronicle (sponsor of the event). http://www.cherrybloss.org/2005/03/sxsw-revoking-press-passes-of-people.html

So, not only did they revoke the Edge’s badges, they also threatened the bands that played The Edge’s non-SXSW affiliated event (which did not even feature a satirical parody of the SXSW name) who did NOT get into the festival that this would damage their future chances of getting into a future SXSW. Wow….just wow. Kim and I have been criticizing the Chronicle for a couple of years on their musical coverage, so I’m not surprised that they would be so…dictatorial. But what right do they have to regulate other events featuring non-SXSW artists. Who gave them control over what occurs during the entire city of Austin during that time? Yes, I know the purpose of SXSW is to make money. But I also believe that have to consider their community and, well it just seems like really bad PR overall.

With that in mind, I emailed a request to Elizabeth Derzco, the PR person for SXSW requesting an official statement on why the press creds of The Edge and Chunklet were pulled. Never heard back. Wonder if I’ll be banned next year?