There is very little like the still of Monday morning after the SXSW Film, Multimedia, and Music conferences
end. The city is just back to normal — which seems slow, at least for a few
days. It was like the time I saw The Wild Bunch in Times Square the week
it was released. (I remember this because at the end of that week, nine minutes
were cut from the film, including one crucial scene.)
By the accident of being in the city and looking for something to do in the
middle of the day, we ended up watching The Wild Bunch. It wasn’t just
that it was on the big screen, it was that nothing before has been seen like
it. To see it on TV or even in the theatre today is to miss the impact of one
of the most beautifully edited of all American films — its slow-motion
violence has become so common as to become a television commercial staple. Back
then, it was startling cinematic poetry. Walking out of the theatre, into the
glare of the sun upon Times Square, the city seemed still, so quiet and calm
compared to what we had just been through. New York City is never quiet.
Driving to work after the ten days of SXSW, I feel trapped in a color TV
commercial from the Sixties, everything so clean and smooth and slick. More a
sliding than a driving, waiting for the collapse when the energy finally leaves
my body and I fall asleep somewhere, anywhere. This issue is slowly being
ground out, pages of reviews, written, edited, designed, proofread,
corrected… always there is the work of the issue.
I’m not going to go into detail on SXSW. Online, I’ve been accused of doing it
for Masonic Lodges, rectum-painting and collecting — vile motives indeed. But
the conference events are over, they went wonderfully, and it was fantastic to
have the Awards Show at the Music Hall. That’s my statement.
There are too many people to thank so I won’t get started because I’ll leave
too many out. One thing I’ve noticed is that Nick Barbaro, publisher of the
Chronicle and executive director of SXSW, rarely gets the credit he
deserves (for example, he’s not named in most of the hate mail I’ve received
and he really should be, as he is equally responsible for Masonic Lodges and
silver-painted rectums). It is in Barbaro’s nature to avoid any limelight and
over the years he has become quite good at it. This does not absolve him of
great responsibility for all that just happened and all that soon will. (I
could say the same about SXSW executive director Roland Swenson but he
does occasionally take the heat.)
There is also much coming up, not only serious issues facing the city such as
the upcoming elections but the annual Short Story contest announcement, more
stories to tell and more news to report. There is sleep and then more sleep.
And there is the next issue.
This article appears in March 21 • 1997 and March 21 • 1997 (Cover).