Tag: sxsw
SXSW Crash: 9 Remain Hospitalized After Deadly Incident

SXSW Crash: 9 Remain Hospitalized After Deadly Incident

By Joseph Serna, Los Angeles Times

Nine people remained hospitalized Friday, including two in critical and one in serious condition, after police said a man drove drunk into a crowd at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, leaving two dead.

Officials with University Medical Center Brackenridge told the Los Angeles Times that two people were discharged Thursday after being injured when Rashad Charjuan Owens, 21, allegedly tried to flee a DUI checkpoint and hit a bicyclist, two people on a moped, and then barreled into a crowd on the sidewalk.

Three other people were listed in good or fair condition at Brackenridge. Three other victims are recovering at St. David’s HealthCare facilities and are listed in fair condition, hospital officials there said.

Owens, meanwhile, is being held in Travis County Jail without bond. He was held on suspicion of two murders and injuring 23 other people. Owens’ court date was not immediately available. Owens has a previous conviction for a DUI in Fairbanks, Alaska, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

According to police, Owens was stopped at a sobriety checkpoint about 12:30 a.m. Thursday outside the music festival. He was in town to rap at a club in Austin, according to local news channel WFAA.

Owens allegedly fled the checkpoint and drove the wrong way down a one-way street and hit Steven Craenmehr of the Amsterdam music booking and promotion agency MassiveMusic. Craenmehr was riding a bicycle when he was hit and was pronounced dead at the scene.

MassiveMusic released a statement on its website Friday morning that read: “It is with great sadness that we announce the sudden passing of our close friend and colleague Steven Craenmehr, 35, on March 13th, 2014 at SXSW. During the 8 years that Steven worked for MassiveMusic, we got to know him as an unstoppable force, full of life, love and laughter.

“This is an irreplaceable loss for the MassiveMusic family and we are grateful for the years we spent with him. Our thoughts are with Steven’s family and friends.”

Also killed was 27-year-old Jamie Ranae West of Austin. West was on a moped when she was fatally struck. She was married and worked as a sales clerk at Leighelena Boutique.

Shon Cook, Jamie’s mother, a resident of Garrett, Indiana, held back tears when talking about her daughter on the phone.

“She was beautiful and warm,” she said. “She was excited about life and art. She loved her family and her family loved her.”

Despite the crash, the festival will continue as planned, event officials said. And police said they would review how they block off streets for major events like SXSW but also noted sturdier blockades would make it difficult for them to quickly move emergency vehicles, the Statesman reported.

At a news conference, Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said a person determined to mow people down in a vehicle would be difficult to stop, and that Owens “showed no regard for the human beings he plowed through … to get away,” the American-Statesman reported.

At least one officer had to jump out of the way to avoid Owens’ vehicle, police said.

Photo: Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman/MCT

Jimi Hendrix Biopic Premieres At SXSW

Jimi Hendrix Biopic Premieres At SXSW

By Dan DeLuca, The Philadelphia Inquirer

AUSTIN, Texas — The most anticipated music movie of SXSW Film has got to be “Jimi: All Is By My Side,” the unconventional Jimi Hendrix bio starring Andre Benjamin that was written and directed by “12 Years a Slave” Oscar-winning screenwriter John Ridley.

The movie, which had its American premiere in Austin on Wednesday, avoids the cliches of the music biopic genre. Rather than the conventional arc of the rise and subsequent substance abuse assisted death of a doomed genius, “Jimi,” which is Ridley’s directorial debut, focuses on the year that Hendrix spent in England before taking America by storm at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.

Nearly as important to the story as Hendrix himself is Linda Keith, the Vogue model who was Keith Richards’ girlfriend before she met Hendrix. Played by Imogen Poots, she has a key role in urging the outrageously talented but unfocused guitarist to get his act together. It’s a quiet, captivating, sharply edited movie, full of intuitive performances.

On Sunday, a week after he won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for his script about the life of Solomon Northup, Ridley was in Austin to talk up Jimi while doing prep work for “American Crime,” the pilot for a potential ABC series with an ensemble cast featuring Tim Hutton and Felicity Huffman. The show began shooting in Austin this week.

Ridley’s inspiration for telling the story came from stumbling upon a Hendrix rarity on YouTube called “Send My Love To Linda,” which the guitarist wrote for Keith. “It was one of the most powerful and emotive pieces I’d ever heard in my life,” he says. “‘Why is he writing this song?’ I wondered. Who is Linda?”

Of Benjamin, who’s startling good as Hendrix, Ridley says, “I just cannot imagine anyone else in this role.”

Being an Oscar winner hasn’t sunk in yet, Ridley says. “To have Robert De Niro hand you that award, to have Meryl Streep tap you on the arm, to be backstage and meet Daniel Day Lewis and Cate Blanchett, and to be only the seond person of color to win that award. There’s a lot of weight that goes with that.”

And what about the supposed feud between Ridley and “12 Years” director Steve McQueen, who did not thank each other at the Oscars? Ridley says it doesn’t exist.

“Twenty four hours earlier at the Spirit Awards, I went on and on about Steve. Steve has always been gracious to me. We were there together — we’ve been to a million events. In this moment when you’re rushing on stage, they tell you have 30 seconds … Steve helped make me who I am. I got no problem with him.”

vagabondMusicCo via Flickr

Two Killed As Car Plows Into Crowd At SXSW Music Festival

Two Killed As Car Plows Into Crowd At SXSW Music Festival

By August Brown and Andrea Chang, Los Angeles Times

AUSTIN, Texas — A speeding car drove into a packed crowd of pedestrians outside a busy downtown Austin nightclub during the South By Southwest music festival early Thursday morning, killing two bystanders and injuring at least 23.

The incident began shortly after midnight when a motorist being stopped on suspicion of driving while intoxicated sped away from police, broke through a barricade and headed the wrong way down a one-way street crowded with music revelers, police said.

The car slammed into a crowd standing near the Mohawk nightclub, striking two people on a motorized scooter who were killed immediately, then hit a number of other bystanders. At least 10 people were taken to the hospital, five in critical condition.

Police hit the suspect with an electric stun gun and he was taken into custody at the scene.

“There is only one person responsible for this, someone with no regard for the sanctity of life,” Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo told reporters in a hastily called briefing. “Our focus is on gathering evidence and seeking justice for the people who lost their lives.”

The incident happened at the height of the evening’s festivities during the South By Southwest festival, with a number of musical performances under way at clubs up and down the area near Red River Street and 10th Street.

The street was instantly transformed into a scene of bloody mayhem, as emergency medical technicians rushed to aid the victims and police took the suspect into custody.

Jayda Luna, 21, said he was waiting in line hoping to score free tickets to see Tyler, the Creator when the car plowed through the crowd and slammed into the person standing next to Luna.

“I saw bodies fly into the air, and there was blood and it was unbelievable,” said Luna, a junior at Texas State. “It was the most horrific thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”

Luna said the impact was so great that it knocked the side mirror off the car and the man who was struck was thrown into Luna’s girlfriend, 19-year-old Jasmine Rodriguez.

“We were inches from getting hit. Seriously, the car was right there,” Luna said. “I didn’t even have to extend my arm the whole way to touch that car, that’s how close it was. It’s a blessing we didn’t get hit.”

Luna, who lives in Austin, said the car seemingly came out of nowhere and was “going at a crazy speed.”

“I don’t know how anyone didn’t hear it,” he said. “We were right there and all of a sudden, boom, a car hit several people. It was going so fast.”

“There was a guy a couple of feet away, he was hit and bleeding from his head. There was a guy behind me, I think his legs got hit,” he said. “I was trying to comfort my girlfriend — she was in tears, crying. I was trying to make her not look at it, but we had to walk through all the stuff to get to our car and there were bodies blocks away from the Mohawk.”

Colin Kerrigan, 25, was leaving an assignment at Stubb’s BBQ, just down the street, moments after the accident occurred.

The freelance journalist raced over to Mohawk and found emergency rescue workers scrambling to help victims as police sirens blared and a helicopter circled overhead.

“As I’m walking up I see one person down and another person down and then I see more and more as I’m looking down Red River Street,” Kerrigan said. “People on the sidewalks — the people who witnessed the whole thing — were crying and in shock. It was a scene that I did not expect to see at SXSW. I know things get crazy, but nothing like a tragedy.”

Kerrigan, who was attending SXSW from Philadelphia, quickly shot photos of the chaos and posted them on his Twitter account.

“I looked down and there’s bodies,” he said. “Some people were able to limp off to the side and other people were literally laying there not moving while people were keeping them calm. I walked farther down Red River to see what was happening and I saw bodies that were unattended and I believe they were part of the deceased, but I’m not 100 percent sure.”

Fire officials said the emergency responders were already geared up for the festival and were able to respond quickly.

“We had resources for events just like this,” fire chief Harry Evans said.

Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman/MCT