SXSW 2014

Many of us made the voyage to Austin again for South by Southwest. As always, there was an abundance of wonderful new talent to see and hear, but also a growing presence of uncredentialed Spring Break kids in search of good times and free booze. That mix can be toxic, and has felt like it was heading for a cliff for the past several years of the festival, culminating this year by a local drunk driver in a stolen car killing three people in a crowd outside a club, injuring many more. There are interesting takes on the state of the conference in the New York Times by David Carr and Manny Ferdandez and Jon Pareles.