Austin Music Awards at SXSW

Today I went over to the Austin Music Awards at SXSW. I was the guest of two award winners –Eric Johnson and this woman. This woman won an award for designing some cover of a music album… and Eric Johnson… well I learnt today that he is one of those hot-shots in music. My lack of music knowledge din’t help. I mean, almost everyone around knew him, and he got a huge cheer when he came on stage – and here I was… guy trying to introduce me to some people – and people strangely wondering what I was doing there. He won a couple of awards… he has won so many of them that he din’t really care – to the extent that he dint know what he was getting the awards for!! Check out www.ericjohnson.com. How I got to know them? Well... that’s a long story – in summary, the joys of traveling! He is scheduled to play with Joe Satriani this month. Folks are touring the world in the next two months or so.

Anyways, I entered the award winner’s section – got a batch and moved to the common area so I could see the performances etc. Loved the music. One of the bands that played was made up of really old people… they played some of the music that sounded familiar… think I’ve heard Bappi Lahiri or Anu Malik versions of them. Also, this band played the ‘Tequila’… the twist song. Loved it.

Now I know why Austin is known for its music. The Austin Music Hall (that’s where the function was) was packed – and they all seemed to love their music. Some interesting awards were – ‘none of the above’ category – guys who were good but dint really win anything; youth group – a bunch of teenagers who had their music album… I mean there were zillions of awards. One of the guys made an acceptance speech to the effect that he was one of those street side guys hanging out with a guitar, until he was picked by the group. Yep – walk along the downtown area, and there are so many people working on the strings. Yes, Austin is the town of live music.

Btw: SXSW is South-by-South West – Austin’s music and movie festival.