SXSW.... A good thing?

Anyways, I moved to Austin about half a year ago. (and am still learning the ropes... any Austinites want to show me around?) As I was preparing to come here, everyone I told about my plans to move said one of the following: "If you love music, you'll LOVE Austin," "They call Austin the live music capital of the world!" and "Jesus... Texas, eh?" But despite what everyone has told me, so far I have been decidedly underwhelmed by my current location's contribution to my overall appreciation of music. I had more fun clubbing in Kazakhstan (which really isn't saying too much).

I'm fully willing to admit that it's possible that I have not yet really scratched the surface, and perhaps there is something quite exciting going on here that I just have yet to really discover/appreciate. But. I think there is something seriously wrong with the "scene" here. Let me describe how Austin "works": There is a street, Sixth Street, which for about ten blocks or so is a continuous row of clubs and bars. This is the "heart" of the "music capital of the world." On a Firday or Saturday night, Sixth Street is populated almost entirely by the members of the University's frats and sororities. Given that there is little, in the minds of the brothers and sisters, to distinguish one shitty bar from the next, the proprieters have hired house bands to provide character and draw. So if one was to walk down Sixth Street on a busy night, they would be treated to a hack band playing the hit songs of any given era.

Now I am not cynical enough to think that this is all there is to it. A bar band is a bar band and a city's contribution to music cannot be determined solely on the quality of its Rolling Stones tribute bands. What irks me, though, is that there seems to be this pervasive professionalism that no band is really immune to, bar band or not. There is a constant Nextism at work here: everyone is poised to be the Next (fill in the blank). Which of course means that they're probably never going to ammount to much of anything, because how many White Stripes/Coldplays/Shins/Cat Powers does the world need? (answer: one was already too many!)

Which brings me (sorry it took so long) to my question regarding the beast known as South By Southwest. I had been operating under the illusion that THIS would be the moment, finally, when Austin redeemed itself musically. But looking at the schedule I am feeling once again overwhelmed. With a few notable exceptions (Mr. Darn1elle, VHS or Beta, maybe Joe Jackson if I can afford it), this just seems like the same problem on a grander scale. It's all rock. It's all stale recyclings. It all reeks of professionalism of the worst kind.

I guess what I'm looking for is someone to defend the SXSW phenomenon and maybe redeem Austin in my eyes. Because I'm starting to get bitter.