Florida Bandango
In 2003, a handful of die-hard Tampa music fans set up a party in the midst of that year´s installment of the weeklong showcase/shmoozefest/industry self-admiration seminar that is Austin, Texas´, South by Southwest. But they weren´t content to just head out there and see the sights like they had in previous years — they invited a gaggle of Bay area bands along for the ride. The Live Music Capital of the World´s Club DeVille hosted a typically great local show — only the locals were 1,000 miles from home. Hundreds of curious heads who´d never heard of Damon Fowler or Urbane Cowboys wandered in, and had a beer and a blast.
This past spring, the SXSW Music Lovers Group repeated the Bandango with a different lineup, with similarly inspiring results, and it looks like the soiree might successfully make the jump from interesting experiment to yearly event. The 2004 version exhibited better planning and a much more eclectic lineup than the maiden voyage. No one´s gotten signed as a result of the trip (nor is anyone likely to — SXSW is far more about product rollout than a talent search), but that´s not the point. The point is to do something different, attract a little attention to a regional music scene that gets very little national recognition, and make a whole lot of memories in the process. Having said that, however, who knows what future Bandangos might bring, provided the Music Lovers keep it up? Here´s hoping they do.
This article appears in Sep 22-28, 2004.