Current mood:	*sporfle!*
Current music:	"Here I Am", Lyle Lovett

It's the Live Music Capitol of the World, not the Live Wank Capitol
Austin, TX plays host to the SXSW Interactive/Film/Music festival every year. Of late, the Music festival has become particularly high-profile, and very popular among the general public as well as music industry wonks. SXSW Music has, for some time, made a practice of selling admissions wristbands to Austin locals, which grant the bearer admission to the evening concerts (provided they aren't already packed to the ceiling with badgeholding festival attendees).

Understandably, the wristbands have become hot commodities for scalpers, and this year the festival organizers decided to do something about it to reduce the problem. They didn't announce the date the wristbands would go on sale, and the only way you could find out about the sale was by signing up for the SXSW text messaging service, which would send out a message to all subscribers' cellphones the minute the sale started.

The magic text message went out on Monday morning, and within moments Waterloo Records was beseiged by hundreds of hipsters. (Full disclosure: I was one of them and waited in the sun for two hours; I picked a hell of a day to wear a black t-shirt and my heaviest pair of jeans.) The weblog Austinist posted a photograph from the event, showing Austin Chronicle editor and SXSW organizer Louis Black watching people file in to get their wristbands.

The wank began in the comments thread instantly:

The epitome of "fat & happy," no?
Oh, and smug, neurotic and narcissistic.
I thought this festival wasn't for the consumers, Louis. Why even sell wristbands? Oh, yea, to make close to $1,000,000 from people for whom the festival is not.

And it got nastier from there. Well then, don't go, you idiot. SXSW is a industry event; be glad they want the community to attend. Bullshit, they're a bunch of money-grubbers. Louis Black fires back. What? That can't be Louis! Yes it was! And on. And on. And on.

And then, since apparently firing back in the comments wasn't enough, Black went after Austinist again in his column in the Chronicle this week.

One of the things I've affirmed, as I expected, is that I'm pretty much a villain -- a role I was born to play. Now, I would point out that many of the things attributed to me are actually the creative contribution or under the control of others, but in this context it would just look like I was trying to shift the blame.

As interesting as it is to have the dialogue opened up, there are also serious drawbacks. Assumptions, unaccompanied by even the most rudimentary research, are as facts. Even when such statements are clearly put forth as merely conjecture, the writers frequently respect and accept their own authority -- so, in the course of their post, any qualifications are removed.

Yesterday, Austinist followed up, linking to Black's column.

And away they go in the comments again. Industry event, people! Black is still a jackass. Austin is not a mocodity! You whiny bastards don't know how good you've got it. SXSW abuses its volunteers! What, by forcing them?

And it's likely to keep cranking away. Which lends a certain weight to this comment, a riff on the city's unofficial slogan "Keep Austin Weird": "Keep Austin a Town Full of Whiny Pussies".

(I love this town, I really do. I've lived here for years and I like my little island of blue in a big red state. But oh my god the locals here can fap fap fap.)