I live in Austin, so I get to stay here for the entire South by Southwest festival ... and beyond. So I get to see the transition during the festival where the Interactive and Film conferences end (although movies continue to screen through Saturday), and the Music portion engulfs downtown entirely. Every year I still get a jolt of surprise when I see the changes downtown for the Music festival. This year, I was completely surprised. During the film festival, you get used to seeing the insides of theaters and the convention center a lot, but Music spills out into the streets, all through downtown Austin.

I drove downtown yesterday to catch Woodpecker at Alamo Ritz. (And I got in, yay! The movie sold out all three of its screenings.) The parking garage where I'd paid a high but reasonable fee of $7 to park my car earlier in the week was now charging $15. Don't we have price-gouging laws in this town? Sheesh. Fortunately, it was late enough in the day for me to find a metered spot on the street and pay a much more acceptable rate of $1.50. (We keep lots of quarters around the house to use for parking meters during SXSW.) It was pointed out to me later that the Convention Center garage always charges $7 throughout the fest, which is handy advice for us locals.

I had a longish walk to the Ritz, but it was certainly entertaining -- downtown had become three times as crowded, and with all kinds of sights to see, from the cheesy to the bizarre. I complain that a lot of places to eat near the Paramount are closed in the evenings, but apparently during the Music fest they all extend their hours. As I got closer to the theater, streets were blocked off, and I could hear a half-dozen kinds of music pouring from the doors of various Sixth Street venues. At one intersection, I saw the Oscar Meyer wiener car tooling around town; in line for Woodpecker, a guy in a chicken suit passed me by.

The streets became even more carnival-like after the Woodpecker screening, just as it was starting to turn dark outside. I don't remember much of this from last year, but that's because once the Music festival starts, I try to see as many movies at Alamo on South Lamar or Dobie as possible. In addition, this is the first year that a film-festival venue has been on Sixth Street -- in the past, you could get to the old Alamo Downtown or the Paramount without having to go near the center of Music fest venues and events. This year, it's unavoidable, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Still, if you're looking for me in the next few days, try Alamo South Lamar.

Tags: Austin, Cinematical, film, movie, sxsw, sxsw2008