SXSW 2010

I'm back at SXSW! Amanda and I led a Core Conversation yesterday called "Improv Lessons For Freelancers," and it was a blast. We had a great audience who played improv games with us and carried on a really interesting discussion about how the fundamentals of improv can help your career as a freelancer. Our friend (and improv impresario) Zach Ward posted a great writeup of the session on his blog, including a video of me leading a deceptively simple (yet surprisingly challenging) improv game.

But you don't want to hear about that, you're here for music! Sadly, I won't be staying for the music portion of the festival this year (any of my readers want to sponsor Wired For Music to cover the festival next year???), but I can offer you a taste of all the incredible music that's going to be featured here in Austin next week.

NPR's All Songs Considered blog has posted "The Austin 100" - their favorite 100 tracks from the 1,000+ MP3s posted on the official SXSW music site. If that's not enough for you, you can download the entire set via bittorrent and listen to it - every year I try to get through every track, and every year I fail, but it's always an interesting challenge. The site that hosts the bittorrent files has links for past years as well.

As we draw nearer to the official starting date, be sure to check NPR's SXSW Music page, as they'll be posting previews, interviews, and streaming live coverage of many of the acts.

Enjoy! Anything you're looking forward to this year? Any favorite tracks from the playlists? Let me know in the comments.