SXSW, the American festival for film, music and tech, would it still be fun? I went there for the first time since 2018. Would it still be a pleasure in the America of Donald Trump? Especially now that part of the tech world has also moved towards Trumpism. SXSW turned out to be a warm bath, a celebration of the other America, which fortunately still exists. Over the past few days I wrote some reports about it and they are all collected here. Preceded by some general findings about the position of SXSW in the current political climate.

1 – The Other America

2 – Signal

3 – Social Health

4 – Tim Walz and Elizabeth Warren

5 – Manchester and Austin

6 – Curtis Mayfield Documentary

7 – John Fogerty

8 – The Butthole Surfers Documentary

9 – Musical Discoveries

1 – The Other America

At Trump’s inauguration, the CEOs from the tech world were in the audience: Tim Cook of Apple, Sundar Pichai of Alphabet/Google, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta/Facebook/Instagram and not to forget Elon Musk of Tesla/SpaceX. In 2018, Elon Musk was one of the speakers at SXSW. I was in the audience and I must have applauded him too. He was already a weirdo then, but not yet the blunt wrecker he has become at the side of Donald Trump. In America, a lot is now under pressure: democracy, the rule of law, freedom of speech, universities, cultural institutions, development aid, climate policy and medical care.

Who protects you in a country where the law of the strongest seems to have become the norm?

In 2017, when Trump had just started his first term, the atmosphere at SXSW was still combative. Dean Baquet, the editor-in-chief of The New York Times, had a triumphant performance. Every day there were new revelations about Trump in his newspaper, every day they exposed his lies. This could not go well for long. A year later, in 2018, Trump is still there and the atmosphere is resigned and searching, as if people have hung their heads. I also missed the critical self-reflection of the tech world that year, which really needed to take a good look at itself. I skipped the event for a few years and now I was there again.

The critical self-reflection is clearly there now. There is a very convincing session about the dangers of social media, and the tech companies that want to do things differently, Signal and BlueSky, are given a prominent place in the programming. A session on social health is chosen as the opening. Tim Walz and Elizabeth Warren are present from the political world. There is a lot of criticism of Donald Trump, but there are no large demonstrations or protests and I seriously wonder whether the alarm bells are ringing loud enough in America.

“Don’t wait for the new leader, we have to do it together.” That was the motto of Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ running mate in the last election, at SXSW. We certainly made a start with that at SXSW. The community as a center of social innovation, that seemed to be a common thread at this edition of SXSW.

Over the past few weeks, I have posted about SXSW almost daily. Those contributions are collected here. Let me know if you have any questions about this or if you want to talk about something.

2 – Signal

SXSW started with an immediate highlight: The performance of Signal boss Meredith Whittaker.

Many of us know that we should switch from WhatsApp to Signal, but we still don’t do it enough, including myself. And that needs to change.

Merredith was asked why it is so important to switch to Signal and she summarizes it very well:

“Big tech companies like Meta and Google collect a lot of data about you. Who your contacts are, where you are, what you discuss with people, your internet use. What if all that data ends up in the wrong hands? What if they use that data to have AI create a summary of your personality and behavior and then widely distribute that summary?

Which part of your personality will survive this?”

I also realized that I have long thought that your data is safer in the United States than in Russia or China. But now that Trump and Elon Musk are calling the shots in America, I am no longer so sure about that and that poses a serious threat.

Signal is a non-profit company. Their income comes from donations. You can be sure that they are not going to sell that company, because that does not benefit anyone. Not even if Elon Musk comes along with 500 million dollars. They do not collect data from users and that is the best guarantee that those data will never be sold.

I think that there should be more non-profit companies. That seems to me to be an excellent answer to excessive financial capitalism.

Will we speak to each other on Signal soon?

You can watch Meredith Whittaker’s entire performance on YouTube:

3 – Social Health

WILL SOCIAL HEALTH BECOME MORE IMPORTANT THAN MENTAL HEALTH?

Social health will become even more important than mental health in the coming years. This is what Kasley Killam, author of the book The Art and Science of Connection, argues at the start of SXSW. We will notice it in the business world, in the cultural sector, in education and in the sports world. But what is social health?

During the Corona period, a painful subject came to the surface: The loneliness epidemic, which naturally affects people even more when they can no longer leave the house. Meaningful social contacts are important and we can give them much more priority. Because people who feel better about themselves also do better work. People with a strong social network live longer. Investing in social skills also really pays off. For example, by actively organizing at work so that people get to know each other better. Make time for lunch sessions and drinks, organize introductory sessions for colleagues who do not know each other, work on properly introducing new colleagues. Companies that do this well will perform better.

But also: Go for Connection first. Don’t look at your phone, but talk to someone. Teach children social skills at school. Learn how to start and maintain friendships. Appoint a Chief Social Officer in companies.

I had to think of the fascinating Marathoninterview that Eva Koreman had with psychiatrist Jim van Os in the Netherlands. In it, he talks about the problem of long waiting lists in youth care. A problem that cannot easily be solved, because you won’t suddenly have twice as many psychiatrists next year. But why should every young person with psychological problems have to talk to a psychiatrist? Serious cases of course have to, but many young people mainly need a good conversation with someone who can put them on the right track. That could be a psychiatrist, but also a family member or a teacher. Or someone you meet in a community center, at the music school or a youth theater company. Many of these organizations have had to deal with cutbacks, while the costs for youth care have risen explosively. Can’t that be organized differently? You could also involve sports clubs and farms, because taking care of animals is also something that some young people get a lot out of. It could be a special coalition of the cultural sector, sports clubs and farmers, that can contribute to strengthening social health in society.

I also had to think of the football club Roda JC, the only professional football club in the Netherlands that does not have a betting partner, so no gambling company as a sponsor. Roda JC has the mission of “taking good care of the region.” According to them, this also includes preventing gambling addiction. This ties in well with Kasley Killam’s vision on social health. She advocates thinking more community driven and less business driven.

4 – Tim Walz and Elizabeth Warren

TIM WALZ AT SXSW: “DON’T WAIT FOR A NEW LEADER, WE HAVE TO DO IT TOGETHER”

How do we stop the rise of the radical right? That is the million dollar question for progressive politicians these days. At SXSW, two prominent representatives of the Democrats went in search of an answer: Tim Walz and Elizabeth Warren.

Tim Walz was Kamala Harris’ running mate in the American presidential elections. He apologized at the start of the session: “We should have won and we didn’t.” Now the discussion has broken out about who should be the new leader of the Democrats. According to Walz, we should not focus too much on that: “Don’t wait for a new leader, we have to do it together.” In doing so, he appeals to politicians at the local level. They must deliver as well as possible in the areas of education, healthcare and meals for children, everywhere that Trump is failing. He also calls on everyone to address Republicans at the local level. It is high time for the Republican party cadre to stand up and speak out against Musk and Trump.

He believes that young people should be much more central to politics. Do something about their excessively high student debts, make sure they can afford a house. But government spending is under pressure and another shutdown is looming. Walz is concerned about this. Billionaires are not affected by a shutdown. They have enough money themselves.

Senator Elizabeth Warren is taking an even stronger stance. America is currently being plundered by a club of billionaires who are enriching themselves, at the expense of the poor. How much longer are we going to let this continue? People will soon notice this in their own environment. Because there is no more care for their elderly mother, because cancer research is being stopped. That may contribute to more resistance. If share prices and Donald Trump’s popularity polls also start to fall, then a dynamic may be set in motion that will seriously threaten Trumpism.

But so far, Musk and Trump want everyone to kneel down to them and anyone who is not prepared to do so is seen as an enemy. Elizabeth Warren argues that Elon Musk bought the president for a quarter of a billion dollars and that he is now recouping his investment. He and his Doge team are copying all the government data and how can we be sure that he is not taking them for his own use? Or that he is going to sell them. Then the damage is incalculable, also outside the US.

Internationally, the blow is already hitting hardest in the countries that are dependent on the American development aid program US Aid, which has been abolished by Trump. A stupid move, according to Tim Walz: “Countries where you send aid troops, you don’t need the navy troops.”

5 – Manchester and Austin

t’s a strange contradiction: Right-wing populists like to claim that the left-wing elite has ruined everything. At the same time, it seems like everyone wants to live in cities with a left-wing government; there is a high demand for houses. You can clearly see it in Dutch cities like Utrecht and Amsterdam, cities where the left has been in power for decades. You can also see it in the cities of Austin and Manchester. Their mayors sign a friendship bond at SXSW. But how do these cities remain affordable?

Affordability first, that’s the motto of Kirk Watson, the mayor of Austin. Young people and artists are the people who ensure a continuous flow of new ideas in progressive cities. If they can no longer afford housing, the soul of the city disappears.

It’s a tough battle in the age of Donald Trump, who is rapidly withdrawing government from education, healthcare and social projects. Andy Burnham, the mayor of Manchester, is crystal clear about it. You shouldn’t think the market will solve it, because the market makes a mess of it.

More and more successful companies are based in Austin and Manchester, but it’s important that people who live in the suburbs can trust that those shiny skyscrapers are also accessible to them. According to Burnham, that requires free education and cheap public transport, with bus drivers permanently employed by the city. You have to make sure that the people who make a lot of money in those shiny skyscrapers pay enough taxes to keep the social services and the cultural sector afloat.

6 – Documentary about Curtis Mayfield

SXSW: CURTIS MAYFIELD GETS THE DOCUMENTARY HE DESERVES

The documentary The Makings Of Curtis Mayfield, directed by singer H.E.R., who is also there, premiers at SXSW. Curtis Mayfield was a major influence on artists such as Prince, Bob Marley, Mary J Blige, Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg and Kanye West. He himself did not become that famous, so it is entirely appropriate that he is honored here with a documentary that deserves a large audience.

In 2007, the Dutch music magazine OOR made an Album Top 100 of All Time. 100 pop experts were asked to make a top 10 and I was also asked to submit a list. My number 1 is the album Curtis by Curtis Mayfield. I was the only one who mentioned the album and it did not make it to the final list. But I appear to be in good company: In this film, Dr Dre mentions the album Superfly by Curtis Mayfield as his all-time favorite. Also Curtis, so, albeit a different record, but that’s a close call for me.

Soul/R&B singer H.E.R. thinks that Curtis doesn’t get enough recognition and to pay off that debt of honor she makes this film. It has become the documentary that he deserves. Really the documentary of a fan, who makes a tour of artists who explain why they think Curtis is so good, supplemented with fantastic archive material.

It starts right away with Stephen Marley who talks about One Love, a song by his father, which is based on People Get Ready by Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions. Just like Bob Marley, Curtis Mayfield was an idealist, who stood up for equal rights and against war.

It’s fantastic to see Dr Dre working on the album Superfly from behind the mixing desk of his home studio, which looks like a spaceship. Dr Dre points out the smallest details, for example how subtly Curtis used percussion, you can see him enjoying himself. This also applies to fellow artists such as Maxwell, John Legend and Mary J Blige, who is deeply moved when she talks about the song Back To The World, about soldiers who returned from Vietnam, just like her own father.

From the end of the seventies Curtis loses his connection with the musical trends. Disco is not for him. He still tours regularly, also in Europe. In 1990 I just get the chance to see him live, at the Effenaar in Eindhoven. Curtis is in shape and he has an excellent band with him. Right from the intro of the opening song Pusherman you feel that it is going to be a special evening. I am very happy that I was able to experience this. A few months later Curtis gets a light pole in his neck during a performance in Brooklyn. He became severely paralyzed and was confined to a wheelchair and bed for the rest of his life, until his death in 1999.

Now there is this film, which will hopefully stimulate interest in his music. I do not how and when this film will be distributed to a larger audience. But until then, jsut put on those wonderful albums Curtis and Superfly again.

7 – John Fogerty

“I played this guitar at Woodstock!” A concert by John Fogerty, you won’t get any closer to the 60s in 2025. After a battle of more than 50(!) years, he has regained the rights to his songs by Creedence Clearwater Revival and he celebrates it at SXSW with a Creedence greatest hits show. It was an exuberant evening full of sing-alongs in the garden of Stubb’s Barbecue. On June 23, John Fogerty will play at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam. I’m considering going again, it was that good.

8 – Documentary about The Butthole Surfers

SXSW: A 5 STAR DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS

The premiere of the documentary about cult band The Butthole Surfers from Austin is a reunion party for the local scene. Flea and Dave Grohl were fans, but they never broke through to the general public. The music is not like that either. For people who experienced a concert of The Butthole Surfers in the 80s, this was often an unforgettable event and that goes for me too. Thanks to this film, everyone can now feel what that must have been like. The big question: “Who wants to be the mother of a Butthole Surfer?”

I saw The Butthole Surfers myself at the Effenaar in Eindhoven in 1987. It was a band with two drummers, a singer with a megaphone, strobe lights, a naked dancer and videos of pile-ups and an open heart operation; an immersive experience avant la lettre. Horror and humor were close together. I was 16 years old and I had never seen anything like it. The Butthole Surfers were chaotic, free-spirited and anarchic, more than anyone else.

Their albums were not the easiest records, but at their live shows everything fell into place. It was an experience that is not easy to recount, you should have been there. But now there is this catchy, smoothly edited film. The band members are interviewed, as well as many famous and less famous fans and there is wonderful archive material. Events that were not on camera are reenacted with hilarious puppet animations. The fact that the band members’ memories often contradict each other contributes to the formation of the legend.

There is a beautiful scene in the film about their performance at the Pandora’s Music Box festival in Rotterdam in 1985. Singer Gibby Haynes was completely lost, even jumped naked on stage with Nick Cave, where he was kicked off by Blixa Bargeld. They feared that they would never be allowed to return, but they actually received an invitation for a European tour.

Of all the alternative US indie bands, The Butthole Surfers were the most extreme. In the late eighties, Nirvana played as their support act. It was thanks to Nirvana that alternative US indie made its worldwide breakthrough in 1991. Even The Butthole Surfers got a contract with Warner. They subsequently failed to live up to expectations, which could have been expected anyway. It ends tragically with Gibby addicted to heroin. In the documentary, he tells that he was in rehab with Kurt Cobain from Nirvana. The Butthole Surfers were now playing as their support act. Kurt escaped from the institute and committed suicide four days later.

The band members are given a grand welcome when they appear on stage after the film. Gibby asks: “Am I the only one who cried?” No Gibby, definitely not. We all laughed and cried at the stories of this unique band.

Who wants to be the mother of a Butthole Surfer? We need more Butthole Surfers, especially in this day and age.

9 – Musical discoveries

SXSW 2025: THIS YEAR’S MUSICAL DISCOVERIES

And what were this year’s musical discoveries at SXSW? Four of the seven acts I’m mentioning here were already seen in Groningen at ESNS earlier this year, which says a lot about the quality of that festival. An overview:

Jasmine.4.t., a group of four transsexual women from Manchester, immediately gives a solid thundering speech after the first song. They call the way they were treated by customs in the US horrible. They honor all organizations in the US that stand up for transsexuals and they call on everyone to support them. Very brave of this act to do a tour of over 20 shows in the US right now and to be so outspoken. Excellent show too.

I already really liked Antony Szmierek at ESNS. This cool dude from Manchester reminds me of The Streets and The Happy Mondays. Things aren’t going well for him in Austin, all the instruments are stopped at customs. The first day they play on borrowed instruments, but that doesn’t work out well, the second day Szmierek does it solo with a kind of tape act. With his charisma and enthusiasm he still manages to convince. Of course also thanks to the catchy songs and the witty lyrics, as can be found on his album Service Station At The End Of The Universe, strongly recommended.

Jacob Alon is a singer songwriter in the style of Jeff Buckley and Damien Rice, who adds his own style and personality to that tradition. Alon is a sensitive, beautiful boy with whimsical songs and witty stories between the songs. It is noisy when he starts to perform solo with acoustic guitar at the British Music Embassy, ​​but he conquers the attention of the audience in no time. Very curious about his album that will be released on May 30th.

Gurriers is a boisterous punk band with excellent musicians, who give it a Captain Beefheart-like touch. What energy, they constantly jump around each other, from the stage into the hall and back again.

The Irish band Cardinals is an act to keep an eye on. They make alternative guitar pop with a big role for the accordion and are reminiscent of both Fontaines DC and Mumford and Sons. Their show is solid as a rock, with excellent songs and an appealing stage presence. With their radio-friendly songs and strong charisma, I can imagine them playing at the big festivals.

Delivery is a punk band with no less than four vocalists who alternate and provide each other with choirs. Their sound harks back to the alternative rock of the early nineties, with optimistic energy and pointed songs. A great act for the clubs.

When a band from Indonesia is announced for SXSW, I pay extra attention, especially if they also stand out positively to me on the SXSW playlist. Ali makes a danceable mix of surf and funk, reminiscent of the work of Khruangbin. They get the audience dancing, although the songs start to sound a bit too similar after a while. An ideal act for festivals, with a cocktail in the sun.