Cotto Social Anxiety SXSW 2015 Preview

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I haven’t been to SXSW in over 10 years.

And when I went it was for my cousins Bachelor Party which happened to fall at the same time as the Interactive Week. Austin was teeming with drunk nerdy people in lanyards speaking in tongues all over each other about “new media.”

Mind you this is before iPhones even.

In any case, the atmosphere gave me a kind of social anxiety I haven’t felt since I did too many pots in a Manhattan studio apartment with like 8 college homies and became convinced some guy named Christian was gonna cut my head off with a butcher knife. So…I bolted out of town before the Film and Music people descended upon the place.

I don’t really have social anxiety generally, I don’t think…but that brief brush with SXSW peeled back all my most self-assured layers and revealed to me that I am simply not made for that networking Ironman carnival environment.

It takes real stones to survive SXSW and I applaud anyone who chooses to brave it.

That being said, every year I wistfully look at the line-ups and wonder…what if I were made of sterner stuff?

What if I simply took some Xanax and marinated myself in Lone Star and Shiner Bock and ate 1 Casino El Camino burger mid-day every day?

Could I survive?

If I did I wouldn’t miss out on seeing some of the following artists…

Bob MosesThursday, March 19 (Mohawk Outdoor)

Comeme Label ShowcaseWednesday, March 18 (Control Room)*Christian S, Phillip Gorbachev, Daniel Maloso, Matias Aguayo, Lena Willikens

Fort RomeauWednesday, March 18 (Swan Dive) & Thursday, March 19 (Plush)

DJ Spoko Saturday, March 21 (Bungalow)

Teengirl FantasySaturday, March 21 (Elysium)

Ex-CopsWednesday, March 18 (The Majestic)

Part TimeWednesday, March 18 (Mohawk Indoor)