James Montgomery on the difference between SXSW and CMJ:

Unlike South By Southwest — the Marathon’s bratty, down-South brother (which, in the minds of many, has surpassed the elder as the premier fest in the States) — CMJ is a musical festival for people who actually like music festivals and all the headaches and heartbreaks that come along with them. There is no Sixth Street (the Austin thoroughfare that hosts the majority of SXSW’s action) to speak of, no label-sponsored cocktail hours at swank Texas hotels, no delicious Bar-be-que to demolish. SXSW is easy, sort of like an industry-wide booze cruise with bands playing on the pool deck. CMJ is complicated, a sometimes-miserable mess, with bands playing in apartments in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

That reminds me of my father and the many miles he had to walk to school with no shoes or one shoe and some socks and how that made him truly appreciate his education unlike me who got to ride the bus.

Never mind.  I just can’t match the ridiculousness of that statement.