The Randomizer

Austinist published an open letter from Factory People insinuating that SXSW somehow orchestrated the city’s permit raid rampage on SXSW after-parties last weekend. While the fruits of FP’s open records request remain to be seen, my hunch is that their $250 white leather belts are cinched a little too tight. It sucks to have a show or party shut down by the cops and/or fire marshal, but don’t hate on those guys too much because all it takes is one of these to ruin the party forever.

Late Night with David Letterman icon Larry “Bud” Melman (born Calvert DeForest) has died at the age of 85. Melman appeared on Letterman's NBC show starting in 1982. Because NBC owned Late Night, Melman had to start using his real name when Letterman jumped to CBS in 1993. I loved when they got him to hand out hot towels at the Port Authority bus station. His cameo in RUN-DMC’s “King of Rock” video is also priceless.

Good golly, Little Richard is playing a free show here this weekend! The rock pioneer will be at UT’s 40 Acres Fest on Saturday with the Jungle Rockers, Black Joe Lewis and the Weary Boys. The show starts at 6:30pm on the South Mall in front of the UT Tower.

UPDATE (3/23): It turns out SXSW sent the fire marshal’s office a list of non-SXSW parties, which the fire marshal’s office took as an official complaint. Assistant Fire Marshal Don Smith told News 8 Austin's Andy Langer he was unsure if SXSW's complaint led to the Factory People shutdown, though. I can understand why SXSW thinks non-festival parties should have to adhere to the same regulations as official venues. It's also important to recognize that the quickest way to kill off all the non-SXSW events is for SXSW itself to fail. The after party circuit exists because of SXSW, not the other way around. That said, I don't like the idea of SXSW pointing the city toward non-SXSW events for code enforcement. Whatever competitive parity might've been gained through such a tactic is likely to be offset by the unsavory public reaction to it.