Well done everyone! We drank $55 million worth of alcohol this past March! The state is estimated to have received about $8 million in tax revenue off sales of the sauce which, if Texas lawmakers had a sense of humor, would go towards alcohol education programs. more ›

While we're admittedly late to the party, before we say a final farewell to SXSW 2012, it seemed right to mention the trends, changes, and successes that marked this year's event. 1. With the new ACL Live/Moody theater downtown, SXSW can do more and accomodate big egos and productions. In a 10-day stretch, ACL Live/Moody hosted Radiohead, Jay-Z, and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in a 2,750 seat theater. If those three headliners were announced for Coachella, Bonnaroo, or ACL, people would literally flood the internet with praise. more ›

There's never enough time to see all the documentaries we want to see at SXSW, but we managed to catch several this year and were -- for the most part -- impressed by the crazy, creative work being done, both in front of and behind the camera. Read on for a few reviews, and check out the rest of our SX film coverage here. more ›

The unstoppable growth-machine that is is Buzzfeed (check out this tumblr: Has Buzzfeed Hired Anyone New Today, and yes, they have) has just a few of its million minds at SXSW, where contributors are checking out fashion and Cosplay. more ›

HOPE Farmer's Market has moved for the next two weekends from their regular spot near Progress Coffee (which is currently occupied by the Fader FORT) down the road to Hops & Grain brewery. They'll be there from 11am-3pm today (Sunday), and as a bonus, the Hops & Grain folks will be serving free beer samples beginning at noon. For those SXSWers who've been too indulgent on BBQ and tacos for the past 72 hours, some healthy local foods and a small glass of craft beer may just prove to be a welcome respite. more ›

SXSW announced the City of Austin's annual list of festival road closings on Friday, which is a must-read for anyone throwing an event, delivering items (or people) to an event, or in need of crossing downtown over the next week. While the full list is available for perusal at this link, some of the more important things to know are listed below: more ›

The Bacon Takedown returns to Austin on Sunday, March 11 with its 3rd annual amateur bacon cooking competition. The event, sponsored by Hormel Foods, is hardly vegetarian friendly, with chef-testants focused on whipping up unique dishes featuring everyone’s favorite pork product. more ›

Beginning right now, Waterloo Records has a limited quantity of South By Southwest 2012 music wristbands available for purchase. The wristbands cost $175 and must be put on at the time of purchase to discourage scalping. There is a one wristband limit per customer. Cash, check, debit, and credit cards will all be accepted. more ›

The sharp music team at NPR are no strangers to SXSW - 2012 marks the fifth year that the national public broadcast team have curated events and interviews at Austin's biggest music event of the year. Each year, the network does quite a bit of field coverage from the festival, which we've covered in past years through talks with correspondent Carrie Brownstein (now of both Portlandia and Wild Flag) and showcase reviews. more ›

The fortuitous folks at [the] FADER, with the help of Microsoft and Chevrolet have introduced their latest project, Sound Discovery. They're calling it "the first comprehensive guide of its kind to visiting America’s music festivals." So what does that mean? Sound Discovery is meant to work in two ways, as an infrastructure for hearing new music, and as an interactive guide to their favorite festivals. more ›

It seems that SXSW gets more organized every year - nearly a month in advance, version one of the massive SXSW Super Grid showing all panels, talks, films, and band showcases is now up for your perusal. As with any conference taking place in 100 venues with 2,000 bands and hundreds of films, expect these grids to shuffle often in the next few weeks due to last-minute programming additions, changes, and deletions. One other music note: the banner showcases at Stubb's, Auditorium Shores, Austin Music Hall, and ACL Live/Moody are notoriously absent from this initial grid, so expect some show 'reveals' in the weeks to come for some of the bigger names like Fiona Apple and The Jesus and Mary Chain. more ›

SXSW organizers announced that sales of festival music wristbands will close at noon today. Wristbands are $175, and sales are limited to Austin-area residents only, with a maximum of two wristbands per sale. To purchase, run don't walk to wristbands.sxsw.com. From the release: "The SXSW Music Festival takes place Tuesday, March 13 - Sunday, March 18, 2012 on 95 stages throughout central Austin with 2000 bands performing. Online purchase requires a credit card with a billing zip code in the Austin area." more ›

Following last week's Feature Film lineup announcement, today SXSW revealed the 11 films that will make up the genre-oriented Midnighter category as well as 135 short films that will span twelve different shorts programs. more ›

For those of us who always wanted to customize a beer and lacked motivation to brew our own, Sam Adams has a unique solution. The brewery teamed with social media enthusiast Guy Kawasaki to release a Facebook app that allows fans to crowdsource a new beer. more ›