​The best of South by Southwest

By Sabrina Hornung and Raul Gomez 

sabrina@hpr1.com, raul@hpr1.com

Games and bars, buses and celebrities

A few weeks ago, the High Plains Reader left the Midwest to explore South by Southwest. We navigated the music-filled streets and delved into the realms of interactive, music, and red carpet film events. We even met some friends along the way, who introduced us to a bit of local flavor. Enough about us -- Here are our greatest SXSW hits!

HBO Escape Room - Escape rooms like Fargo’s own escape room are tremendous fun, but HBO brought it’s A game by making super realistic sets with creative puzzles based on their shows VEEP, Silicon Valley, and Game of Thrones. As we waited to enter, we tossed back a couple goblets of GoT Red wine, yes, it’s a real thing.

Amazon Prime Partiesand Themed bars - So much is done right at the Prime House. It combines the simple comforts of several cool themed bars with cleverly named craft cocktails such as the H-Bomb. When you check in you’re given a wristband with an NFC chip that identifies you and takes you through a tour that ends in a secret bar on the other side of a bookcase. Not bad, Amazon, not bad at all.

VICELAND Bus - With all the grandiose events and elaborate setups, it was refreshing to hop on the VICELAND bus. No overdone setup, just out-of-the-box playful setting with drinks and cool music. And what better place to meet one of SXSW, nay, the world’s most famous cats. Yes, THE Grumpy Cat was there pimping her new app. She was even cool enough to introduce us to her people pets.

Pollo Hermanos - There was a swirl of mystery surrounding the Pollo Hermanos pop-up restaurant that served no chicken, only curly fries. Even moremysterious was the sudden arrival of Gus Fring, the big bad from Breaking Bad played by Giancarlo Esposito. Rumors about his return in Better Call Saul are pretty clear now. Fans bellowed cheers as he and the lovable f*ck-up protagonist James McGill played by Bob Odenkirk made their way inside to talk to press about the upcoming third season of Better Call Saul.

“I think, like him I want to do the right thing. I want to make people proud of me. Unlike Jimmy I succeed more than he does” Says Odenkirk. Season three begins April 10.

Music and bananas

Pandora Stage - Jain She may be small -- spritely even, with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. Her music packs a punch -- a punch that is playful, delightfully infectious and dance-inducing. Jain has gained notoriety in Europe with her worldly sound and whimsical videos. Armed with a loop pedal and sometimes an acoustic guitar, she crosses genres as she infuses reggae beats, African drums, and infectious pop sounds.

Mazda - Empire - The New Pornographers- Who knew there was an Empire alongside the Red River in Austin? Needless to say, we felt right at home.Vancouver-based indie supergroup The New Pornographers performed an outdoor set during the Mazda takeover, in promotion of their new album, “Whiteout Conditions.” Due on April 7, it is the first release on the band's label Collected Works Records. A.C. Newman, Neko Case, indie pop, killer harmonies -- need we say more?

Meanwhile in VIP, to promote the New Pornographers’ new album, Austin’s lone frozen banana stand Bananarchy created “special edition recipes” for the occasion.Sabrina tried “Whiteout Conditions” which was dipped in white chocolate and coated in coconut. Raul’s involved edible glitter. Bananarchy might just be our new favorite word...and snack.

Venue: Sidewinder, band: Fragile Rock- We’re told that Fragile Rock is the Earth’s first emo puppet band. The Austin-based ten-piece features a cast of mopey muppets, musicians, singers, performers, comedy and a good old fashioned dose of the rock n’ roll ultra-sadness. You might want to laugh, you might want to cry, but to quote the chorus of their song, “I am sad and so am I, You ain’t gonna see me cry. A tear don’t fall from a glued-on eye.” Stay felt my friends, stay felt.

Film

Muppet Guys Talking - An introspective look behind the minds and hands behind the muppets. Directed by Frank Oz who not only breathed life into Yoda in “Star Wars” but also worked alongside Jim Henson for 35 years. Five of the original muppet cast members reveal their methods behind the muppet magic and provide a glimpse into Jim Henson’s creative vision. The premier featured a panel discussion between cast members and director/longtime friend of Oz, Robert Rodriguez.

Bill Nye: Science Guy - A generation of schoolchildren grew up inspired by Bill Nye, whether they tuned in Saturday mornings or whether the TV/VCR setup rolled into their science classroom. Now, Nye’s mission is growing up as he intends to follow the footsteps of the late great astronomer Carl Sagan, who also happened to be his professor. This crowd-funded documentary explores his mission as well as his trials and tribulations in the wake of climate change and evolution deniers--proving that science education is now more crucial than ever.

May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers- This documentary serves as a portrait of the Avett Brothers recording their latest album “True Sadness.”While exploring their creative process it provides insight to the lifelong bond between brothers and frontmen Scott and Seth Avett. It is a joint collaboration between filmmakers Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio.

During the red carpet event we had a chance to ask Michael Bonfiglio how the duo settled on the Avetts as subjects, he said, “It was Judd’s idea. Judd had met Rick Ruben and Rick had mentioned to Judd that the Avetts were about to go into the studio to work on a new record and it might be an interesting thing to film. We started filming in January of 2014. We went down and started following them and following their process writing and creating demos for the album and there was just something kind of magical about them and what they were doing.”

Interactive

Jennifer Doudna: One of the most important discoveries of our lifetime may be the development of CRISPR (Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) as the genome editing tool CRISPR-Cas9. Thanks to the work of Jennifer Doudna we are now able to make sci-fi level mutations that can cure genetic diseases, wipe out malaria, and potentially change the world as we know it. HPR will take a deep dive into her work in the weeks to come.

Amazon Drone: Nestled in its one small bar at the Amazon Prime House was a little piece of tech history. One of the original eight Amazon Air prototypedrones were on display. When folks first heard of Amazon Air, Amazon’s drone delivery project, many shrugged the idea off as unlikely or silly. Well, they were wrong, Amazon recently delivered its first drone package. How do them words taste now, internet?

Plugged In Unofficial - Chris Stalcup & the Grange - VArt: There’s a wondrous feel the first time you slip on a Virtual Reality headset like the Vive. You’re transported. And even though you’re out in some black starscape floating among swirls of light and color, your brain starts to believe the illusion. Suddenly you feel very comfortable exploring the limits of what you can do and where you can go.

Add the rootsy rock sounds of the Georgia-based band Chris Stalcup & the Grange, a bunch of liquor and a juvenile instinct to draw ah, er...eggplants, and you have a night to remember.