The first day of SXSW was rather typical and lame except for the fact that I got to hang out with my friend Christian a bit. He volunteers for SXSW building films up and got a badge. He told me he is going to the valley, to South Padre Island, with friend for a few days over Spring Break. But we had agreed to see "Code 46" together on the first day and to try and hang out more when he gets back.

Christian called me at about 2 and told me that the lines were long at registration so I decided to head downtown. I had to eat first and run some errands. After hitting the post office and bank, I went down to west 6th and went to Hut's Hamburgers. I hadn't been there in a long time. I got the blue plate special, which was both catfish and a mistake. The food at Hut's has never been as bad as it was today. I got to the convention center and found the SXSW area eventually. There were few helpful signs. The registration was upstairs and you had to take two escalators which seemed to be going very fast and made me dizzy. The place seems well organized but getting my badge was chaos. No one knew what they were doing. A guy went to get my badge and it was ten minutes before I saw him again. Still no badge. Then some SXSW know-it-all guy who though he was in charge finally came out and made things happen. Of course, I had to wait for him to train his staff before he took carte of me.

While I was waiting I saw SXSW Film Programmer Matt Dentler and said hello. Matt remembered me on sight which I found really flattering.

After the big fiasco of getting to a volunteer who could get my badge, the girl who finally got my badge was quick, courteous, knowledgeable and helpful. Since she knew I was press, she told me that if I was going to be using a camera, I needed a special permit and also told me exactly where to get it.

I went to the press desk and got a tag for my cruddy little Polaroid and hooked it on to my cam. They must have thought it looked silly. I did. Then I went and got my goodie bag and directory. There really wasn't much worth talking about it the bag. There were some magazines and fliers as usual. The coolest thing was a little bag with some CD cases in it from a company called CShell. I though this was a genius idea since both musicians and filmmakers would be interested in these nowadays. (Nowadays - that makes me feel old... Sonny, back in a DVD stood for Dangerous Venereal Disease!) I also saw Kevin Pruitt, manager of the Regal Arbor theater and said hello. Kevin is always at Agliff (because it is always at the Arbor) and is always so friendly and nice. I thought maybe he was gay but he dropped the word "wife" into our conversation, so I guess maybe he isn't.

Walking back to my car, I also saw a guy named Ravkill who used to talk to me but now avoids me. He is part of Harry Knowles crowd - or wants to be. I thought about yelling hello just to see what he would do but decided against it.

I came home for a few hours, watched some TV, set my VCR and did some writing.

At 6:45 it was sprinkling, so I turned off "Will and Grace" and headed to the Alamo Drafthouse for "Death and Texas." Parking was a little out of the way but not to bad. I knew I would end up at the Paramount, so I tried to part somewhere inbetween.

As I went in, flashing my SXSW badge, the volunteer told me I should "wear it around the neck." I didn't and I won't. It seems so pretentious. Anyway, I got in easily and ordered my usual (Hard Core Cider and a Blue Hawaii pizza). The projectionist was playing a instruction video that explained how to do country dances while playing some heavy 70's instrumental R&B. It was funny for a bit. One of the dances that was being taught was the "Achy Breaky" and this made a little more sense later on when Billy Ray Cyrus appeared in the film that was showing.

After a bit the volunteer introduced the director of "Death and Texas" and he said a few words. He mentioned that he had lived in Houston 20 years ago and hadn't been back in a long time.

The film started with SXSW trailer called "Bad French" that was actually quite amusing. Into the film there were some sound problems with what seemed like a speaker or amp shorting out or perhaps a bad connection but it eventually got fixed.

Towards the end of the film, which seemed much longer than its 70 minute run time, Christian called. I had called him before the movie to ask him to remember to sit close so I could take some pictures. He said he was in the Paramount and in the theater in the forth row on the left. I walked over to the Paramount and was about to go in when a cute guy on the street stopped me by saying my name. It was Brian Poyser whose film "Dear Pillow" is in the festival. Poyser does a lot with film here in Austin and I think he even used to be associated with SXSW. He introduced himself and invited me to his screening. I assured him that, "unless I die, I will be there."

I went into the Paramount and walked down front and found Christian. It was crowded and he was over to the far left. My seat was under the box seats on the second row. To be blunt, it sucked. But Christian was there and looking cute. He had shaven and was wearing an sexy pink Polo shirt which he told me he wore just for me. (Don't get any ideas. He just likes to amuse me). Christian was sitting next to some friends from UT and introduced me. The girl seemed a little snooty but the guy was a total hottie. He and Chris talked a bit and I went to pee. The moment I was half-way up the aisle, Matt Dentler came out and introduced the film.

I got back to my seat after going to the bathroom and realized that there wasn't anyone from the film there, so there would be no Q&A or anything like that. Matt said that he had seen the film at Toronto and insisted it be in the festival and reminded everyone that this was its first U.S. screening.

Christian told me that he had seen Matt around the SXSW film build up area but didn't realize he was a big shot in the fest. He told me he thought Matt was a little "douchy." When I asked what he meant by that he said, "You know, like a douchebag." I told him that Matt had always been very nice to me and that he was the film programmer. (The festival directory actually calls him the "Conference and Festival Producer." Whatever that means.)

The SXSW trailer began and it was not very good. It was called "Convergence" and it didn't make any sense. Then again, neither did "Code 46," so maybe that's appropriate. Christian talked a little during the film which I always find embarrassing. Also, the film had very bad sound. The center channel was flat and the dialogue was often buried by the background music. It was hard to tell what was being said quite often. I thought maybe it was just me and my shitty seat which was blocked from the speaker by the overhead box seats (which I've never seen in use in a film presentation) but others were griping about it after the film as well.

We hung out at the front of the theater for a few minutes after the film. Christian invited me over but I told him I needed to go home and write. We said good-bye and he said good-bye to his school chums. I told him to have fun in the Valley. I walked to my car and drove home.

Later in the evening my pal Johnny Oh! called and said he had been at the new gay bar Sidekicks which opened up in the building that used to house the Bad Dog Comedy Club and the second incarnation of the Steamboat. It converted to a gay bar and opened a couple months ago and we've been a few times. There are usually a few lesbians there too and some of the snootier gay guys (i.e. jaded old queens) call the place "Fishsticks." Anyway, John said he went to the Crystal Waters show there and somehow snagged a free ticket. Apparently she did 2 songs, took a really long break, did 3 more songs and left. And tickets for this show was 20 bucks!

As I said, day one of SXSW 2004 was rather lame and disappointing. And apparently not just for the festival goers.

Lodger@SXSW2004