South By Southwest Music Festival : To play or not to play?, that is the question. I mean as an artist coming out with a new record this year I suppose it's something that I should do. It's just that SXSW has become so huge and crowded that it just didn't seem like something that I wanted to do. I was dragging my feet making up my mind about it and missed the registration deadline for an "official showcase".Last week I discovered that some of my close friends from Austin had a line on some parties there during the festival so I just decided, screw it, my band is going anyway and we'll try and bamboozle our way onto stage. Any excuse to go to Austin right? What's not to love about a city whose unofficial motto is Keep Austin Weird and that conservative Texans refer to as The People's Republic of Austin?

This week's playlist and Youtube selections are compiled of some Austin artists along with Bright Eyes and Starlight Mints with their renditions of a couple of Daniel Johnston songs (also an artist from Austin.)

I simply must include this as an addition to this week's Spin: last week's episode of Extras on HBO with a special guest appearance by David Bowie is truly a MUST SEE! It's the funniest piece of comedy that I've seen in a long time. Emmys anyone?

Heads up everyone…Our Lady Jane Hamsher Returns!!!! posting at 1:00 pm today!!