2007年VOA标准英语-Austin's South By Southwest Festival Becomes Bi

By Katherine Cole
Washington
09 April 2007

For 10 days every year, the place to be for America's entertainment industry is not Los Angeles or New York City, but rather Austin, Texas. Performers and fans flock to Austin to attend the annual South By Southwest Music, Film and Interactive¹ festivals. In the first of two reports, VOA's Katherine Cole reports on the business side of the event.

Started in 1987 as a way to bring national attention to Texas musicians like Alejandro Escovedo, South By Southwest has grown into America's largest music business convention. In fact, with more than 11,000 participants attending the four-day music conference this year, and over 5,000 more taking part in the Film and Interactive conferences, South By Southwest has become the largest entertainment conference in the United States.

According to South By Southwest co-founder Roland Swenson, the event contributed more than $38 million to the local economy in 2006. Was that number higher this year?

"I really don't know," Swenson said. "I know a lot of people come here, and they spend money. And I know the businesses count on it, the service businesses like nightclubs and restaurants. And you ask any cabdriver here, and he's like 'Oh yeah, we wait for this. This is our week of the year.'"

The South By Southwest Music Conference proved to be such a success in its first few years that two more festivals, one for films, the other for interactive media, were added in 1994. As Roland Swenson explains, adding a computer-related event was a bold move in those days.

"In fact, when we started the interactive event, the worldwide web was still very new," he said. "Mosaic³, the first web browser⁴ had just been released. And the first year that we had the interactive event, we filled a room with computers with Internet access and we called it 'The Internet Theater.' There was a line for people to come in and look at the Internet for the first time. The following year [1995], we did it again, and there was no line at all! By then, everybody was on the web everyday."

There is one thing has not changed in the years since the first conference; a career can be made at South by Southwest. That's why the thousands of entertainment industry types are still drawn⁵ to town. Bands without a label come looking to find one, while computer game developers may arrive looking for money to take their newest project out of development and onto your laptop computer. While others come primarily to share their real world knowledge, there is no denying that everyone is looking for the "next big thing."

 

"I'm here for the South by Southwest film festival," said Doreen Ringer Ross, vice² president of Film and TV Relations in the Los Angeles office of music publisher BMI. "I believe the independent film culture is really the artist development forum⁶ for the film business … for the film and television business actually, which are blurring⁷ together. If you start to look at whose careers spawn⁸ from this forum, you'll see that it is the artist development ground for all the new directors, actors, composers, writers, cinematographers. In about a 12- to 13-year arc, you will start to see people spring out of this world, coming right into the middle of the mainstream⁹ of the entertainment business. Because this where all the interesting ones seem to come from."

"So it's like Sundance [Film Festival] used to be 20 years ago, except that it's happening here in Texas," she continued. "And it's really special because it is attached to this music festival, so it has a huge music component¹⁰ to it, which really defines it. Within two days, the town will be overwhelmed with nothing but bands and music folk."

Those musicians will be the focus of our next report on South By Southwest 2007. It's estimated that close to one-quarter of the more than 1,400 bands taking part in the week-long event this year came from outside the United States. One-hundred-eight were from Canada, with Australia and New Zealand sending a record 42 groups to South By Southwest 2007. In all, 39 countries were represented this year.

The United Kingdom, which sends more bands than any other foreign territory, had 145 acts in Austin this year. They included Lilly Allen, The Fratellis, and Amy Winehouse, who had everyone talking about her showcase set and party appearances.

1 interactive   

adj.相互作用的，互相影响的，（电脑）交互的

参考例句：

• The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
• This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。

2 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

3 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

4 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

5 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

6 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

7 blurring   

n.模糊，斑点甚多，（图像的）混乱v.（使）变模糊( blur的现在分词 )；（使）难以区分

参考例句：

• Retinal hemorrhage, and blurring of the optic dise cause visual disturbances. 视网膜出血及神经盘模糊等可导致视力障碍。 来自辞典例句
• In other ways the Bible limited Puritan writing, blurring and deadening the pages. 另一方面，圣经又限制了清教时期的作品，使它们显得晦涩沉闷。 来自辞典例句

8 spawn   

n.卵，产物，后代，结果；vt.产卵，种菌丝于，产生，造成；vi.产卵，大量生产

参考例句：

• The fish were madly pushing their way upstream to spawn.鱼群为产卵而疯狂地向上游挤进。
• These fish will lay spawn in about one month from now.这些鱼大约一个月内会产卵。

9 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

10 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。