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Dan Steinberg is the founder and owner of Square Peg Concerts. His diary of this year's South by Southwest conference is his first article as a contributor to Venues Today.
Losing a week of my life at South by Southwest (SXSW) in the name of rock and roll and calling it work. Life’s rough. My journey to Austin starts with a 3:20 a.m. wakeup call Tuesday, March 12 to catch a 5:45 a.m. flight out of Seattle, a quick lay-over and coffee at SFO, and by 3:07 p.m. I have landed in Texas. Once on the ground there’s a mad scramble to baggage claim, then off to the H.E.B. Market to stock the hotel room with snacks and mixers. That’s followed by a quick stop at the liquor store for the finishing touches to create a make-shift bar for our after-hours hotel room speakeasy. After a long fight with traffic I finally reach my home for the next week and the center of the SXSW universe: the Downtown Hilton.
The Hilton lobby is absolute chaos, running the gauntlet of managers, agents, artists and friends all just to make it to check in. I drop my bag in the room, charge my phone, wash my face and pop back down to the bar for my first meeting with longtime friend and founder of the AspenLive Conference Jim Lewi. The bar is packed and finding a table is a challenge — forget ordering. Over the course of the next ninety minutes our table was visited by James Blades from McGhee Entertainment, Attorney Tomy McDonald, Nederlander Talent Buyer Michael Goldsmith and a sea of other industry executives followed.
The key to accessing all the venues in Austin is the Official SXSW Music Badge, without which you might as well just stay home. Badge pick-ups and registration run until 10pm nightly -- 20 minutes to 10 p.m. my business partner Jason Zink warns me of the time. We go across the street and head over to the Austin Convention Center with Greg Schmale of Ticketmaster to pick up our credentials, bumping into friends along the way, rushing past most of them due to time slipping away. We make it in the nick of time. On the way out, we run into sponsorship mastermind Ally Shaw. Promising to meet Ally at the Hilton bar, we head back that way for a quick bite in the bar and more glad-handing in the lobby. Travel and schmoozing get the best of us, and sadly we skip music night one.
Wednesday morning comes quickly between the late-night of drinking and the two hour time change working against me. First lunch meeting of SXSW is with my mentor of twenty-one years, Agent Andy Somers. We headed to La BBQ, the wait was about 45 minutes, but with a keg in the corner with a tip jar next to it and great company, the time flies right by. The brisket was out of this world and Andy loved the ribs. The grease was just the thing I needed to help counteract my lingering hangover.
My SXSW main focus is up next, moderating a marketing panel entitled “Bad Ass Concert Marketing: Pack The F#cking Room” with The Union’s Harvey Cohen, Nederlander’s Jamie Loeb, Live Work’s Jim Lewi and the AT&T Center’s Jeff Chabon. I try to turn my panels into a full-on floor show with a taste of teaching and entertaining with a touch of booze. This year would not be any different as my panelists are treated to three wine pairings throughout the course of the hour, plus the fact that I showed up dressed head to toe as a pimp. The buzz had gotten out about the panel and we fill every seat prior to starting with a line still wrapped around the hall to get in. The panel is a great success if I do say so myself. You’re welcome to see it all here.
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Immediately after, the panelists and I head over to the Panel After Party hosted by Bill Young Productions at Rusty’s. Over the next three hours, we all answered questions from the next generation of our business over complimentary cocktails and oysters. I believe I may have even found a promising student named Madeline from Ohio to join our Nashville marketing team for an internship next year.
Wednesday evening Jason Zink and I head to the Mohawk to catch sets by both Johnny Two Bags and Les Claypool, bumping into the Van’s Warped Tour’s Kevin Lyman and APA’s Steve Martin. Steve invites us to a sit-down dinner, (SXSW is normally about pizza and food trucks) so this was a welcomed invite, and an amazing lobster tail as well. At midnight Zink and I petty-cab over to the Clive Bar to catch Aloe Blacc’s set and squeeze in a little hang time with WME’s Seth Seigle and Atlantic Records’ Harlan Frey. During Aloe’s set, my phone’s battery dies. Seth mentions a CNN new flash that had just come over his phone — there’s been a deadly accident in front of the Mohawk. Details are just coming in, but this has our complete attention. It seems important to mention that the last place I checked-in online prior to my phone dying was at the Mohawk. My peer circle and parents are all trying to check on me as the news breaks, but with my phone out of juice they can’t reach me. This really concerned a few of my very close friends and family. Once the show ends, Harlan and I head back to the Hilton. Once in my room, I respond to countless emails with a Facebook post announcing my safety and thanking everyone for their concern. I also call my mother, who is waiting by her phone for my call. Clearly this was the wrong day to lose the war with my battery life.
Thursday morning starts with an early lunch with the Austin Paramounts’ Lietza Brass. I rent the Paramount from time to time, but this is mainly a social call, talking about our love for comedy, the pace of SXSW and the rumors of who might be playing the Lou Reed Tribute show at the Paramount the next night. I had heard word of Beck, but she doesn’t confirm if it’s true or not. After my caesar salad, I rush back to the Hilton to grab my badge, then head over to the convention center to sit-in on Dawn Holliday of Slim’s annual talent buyer meeting. This is always a highlight for me: 65-or-so talent buyers in one room, debating the issues facing our business. FYI most of the buyers are not a fan of the mileage radiuses involved in many of the larger summer music festivals.
The next half hour is the agents’ turn to catch up, and then we all mix together and debate the issues of the day. The Agency Groups’ Bruce Solar and Paradigm’s Steve Ferguson lead the debate for the agents. Harvey Cohen, Andy Somers, Red Riders’ Erik Selz and I hang out in the last row, joking quietly with one another. Afterwards Harvey and I bump into TAG’s Tim Borror on the way out of the convention center.
3:30PM. I meet up with Jason Zink to go hit the clubs on 6th Street to discover some music. We quickly pop in and out of a few — nothing has caught our attention yet. We then grab a drink at an Irish-themed bar called Bull McCabe’s and catch up for a moment. No sooner do we order than a text from Straight No Chaser’s manager David Britz hits my cell: he has just landed and we invite him to join us with his assistant Luke Pierce. Moments after, musician Donnie Reis joins us too. Time slips away from us quickly, but we get real business done together. After all, this is the real reason we’re here: bonding with the people we work with over a drink or two.
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It is 6:30 p.m. all of a sudden. Jason and I are hosting a dinner for 30 of our favorite agents, managers, partners, ticketing and label executives and a few life-long friends at Flemings Steak House. It’s become something of an annual gathering and our way of saying thank you for the all business from the past year. Mostly though, it’s a reason to bring all our friends together in one room. Schedules never work perfectly at SXSW, so there are always a few friends that can’t make the timing work, but it’s always a highlight for me. This year we manage to destroy some of the art work hanging on the wall in the private room. Not naming any names, but I still stand by my story that I was pushed into it. After dinner most everyone has a showcase to catch, and I walk back to the Hilton to catch up over a cocktail with Greg Schmale and a handful of other friends.
Friday started with a trip over to the Triple 8 management office to catch up with Whitney Bond, Bruce Kalmick, George Couri and Jenn Adams. They are a really happening firm with Chase Rice, Eli Young Band, Joe Nichols and a handful of other breaking acts. There is a lot of personality in that office and I am very fond of them all. Jenna and Whitney treat Zink and I to lunch at an amazing local Tex-Mex joint called Flores (it’s definitely worth seeking out when visiting Austin). Whitney is then kind enough to drive us back to the Hilton.
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I run across Getty Images’ Vince Bannon in the hotel lobby. He has been a mentor to me for years, and we go off together to discover some music. First stop was The Red Eye Fly’s indoor stage, crossing paths with the Agency Group’s Justin Bridgewater and David Galea. A song later, we move to the Fly’s outdoor stage hosting a band I never learned the name of, but I joked about the singer’s Members Only Jacket and the keyboard player’s look of a 70’s porn star. During this unimpressive act’s second song, I ran into the talent buyers from Seattle’s Crocodile Café Hunter Motto and Meli Darby. I quickly introduce them to Vince, and notice Ticketfly’s Tom Ewald entering the space. I introduce Tom to Vince -- that was a special SXSW moment for me, as they are both very good friends and I was excited to have the chance to be the link between them. Moments later my phone rings: I’ve been invited to a meeting with APA’s Steve Martin. Vince and I exit the Red Eye Fly for Trio at the Four Seasons Austin. It’s about a ten minute walk. You can definitely do it quicker, but we were catching up along the way.
The Trio is a patio on the backside of the Four Seasons, and it is something of show within itself, especially during SXSW. As we sit down at Steve’s table, I notice Paradigm agent Aaron Pinkus talking to G. Love of the Special Sauce. I don’t want to interrupt their meeting, so I wave to Aaron in hopes that he’ll find us when he’s free. Billy Bob Thornton also strolled past the patio moments later, leading us to discuss his touring career a few years earlier. Inside at a table, I notice legendary ICM agent Marsha Vlasic taking a meeting, and later bump into Australian Big Time Promoter Michael Chugg as well. All of this is common place for the Four Seasons during SXSW. During the course of a few drinks at Steve’s table we’re joined by APA’s John Pantle, Andy Somers, Aaron Pinkus, and Jason Zink. It was the place to be.
On the way back to the hotel, I received an invite via text from David Britz to join his team at the Moonshine Patio Bar and Grill for dinner. Service was lackluster, but the dessert was simply a win, in particular the peanut butter pie.
After dinner, I split off to chat up with one of my oldest friends Harlan Frey. We have a drink and I vent for a moment about life in general. Then we meet up with some of our friends at Stubbs for Young the Giant. For the record, Harlan has been telling me for five years to go see them, this was my first time, and I am jumping on that band wagon. They are the real deal.
Saturday morning. A lot of my friends start heading home, but I pack my bags and head to the Agency Group’s party at Lamberts Barbecue. This is a great party they have been throwing for the past four years. It was Bruce Solar’s brain-child, and it is perfect, complete with great high-end BBQ and no music, but a lot of friends in one place at one time. It’s the best party at SXSW in my opinion. The place is packed, but there’s a great vibe all along. I was there for hours. Afterwards, I head back to the Hilton with David Britz and Luke Pierce, and then hug them both as they head off to the Rachel Ray Party. I then go to grab my bags and head to the airport. In the cab line, I offer to share a cab with the woman in front of me and she agrees. We get in the cab and begin trading info. It takes me only moments to realize I was sitting with the daughter of the agent that is credited with starting the entire touring business as we know it: Frank Barsalona. This is Nicole, and ironically we had traded a few tweets last year.
Next I’m checking-in at the airport, passing the time in the security line while schmoozing with Live Nation’s Greg Siegel. Then I’m bumping into The Agency Group’s David Shapiro in the food lines (he was grabbing Amy’s Ice Cream, I was getting a last plate of brisket from the Salt Lick). Moments later I’m sitting with Madison, WI’s Scott Leslie of the Majestic Theatre. Walking to my gate there was a quick hug from Steve Martin, and then I board my plane. On my flight I’m seated t in the second-to-last row, next to the owner of Barsuk Records and manager of this year’s SXSW buzz band Phantogram, Josh Rosenfeld. I did not know Josh before sitting down, but we spent the next 3 hours teaching one another about how our respective sides of the business worked. That flight back is (also) what SXSW is all about: making friends and teaching one another. I can’t say for certain that Josh and I will ever work together directly, but my gut is I made a friend for life.
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