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Hello and welcome to the first post from one of Sweet Leaf’s newest (and possibly now your favorite) blogger: me, Harrison! I’m going to be a marketing intern with Sweet Leaf Tea over the summer, and let me tell you, this job rocks.

Like many of you, I have been a fan of Sweet Leaf for a very long time. When you are a native of Austin like I am, it’s sort of hard to avoid. In one form or another, Sweet Leaf is associated with all of my favorite Austin places and events—from The Hideout to Freebirds, and from ACL Fest to South By Southwest. It seemed like Sweet Leaf knew where I was going to hang out and quickly left some bottles or created their own event there before I arrived. In no time at all, Sweet Leaf had established itself to me as a part of Austin that was as important and fun as the Alamo Drafthouse or Zilker Park.

When I left Austin to attend school at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas (granted, not too far from Austin, but still wildly different), I took Sweet Leaf Tea with me to serve as a constant reminder of the city I love so much. At any one time, I had in my dorm fridge a half gallon bottle of Original and a half gallon bottle of Mint & Honey, ready to be consumed after a long day of classes or during a long night of studying.

Needless to say, when I discovered that Sweet Leaf was looking for interns for the summer, I quickly jumped on the opportunity, and it is here at the Sweet Leaf Tea Headquarters on South Congress that I find myself today. It’s only my second day on the job, but I can already tell it’s going to be an awesome experience. Everyone is crazy nice and welcoming, and the atmosphere is as cool and laid back as you would imagine. Plus dogs and unlimited free tea only help.

I still have a lot to learn about this company and a lot to explore, and I plan on sharing these endeavors in the near future. We can learn about the behind-the-scenes of Sweet Leaf together!

Well, seeing as how I’m probably going to be writing several more blog posts in the future, maybe I should come up with a good farewell catchphrase to use. Edward R. Murrow did it, Ryan Seacrest does it. Even Howie Mandel does that stupid salute thing. Why not me? Let’s see, how about… “Have a sweet day!” God that’s awful. Okay maybe, “Keep watching the skies!” No, that’s been taken. Plus it makes no sense in this context. Well I’ll keep thinking of ideas. Until later!

By Eliza Cole

Granny loves to give out goodies. The kind of goodies that last long after your first sip of tea. Or at least until you get a good scrubbing in.

Our duty, particularly at our recent Eastbound & Found SXSW 2010 party, was to keep Granny’s Sweet Leaf Tea swagger going by giving everyone a chance to get their hands on some of our latest and greatest swag, including our new Mint & Honey Green Tea and Citrus Green Tea flavored chapsticks.

We also had a plethora of Sweet Leaf Tea buttons, koozies, bandannas, temporary tattoos, and Granny stickers to let you get your own SLT swagger on at Eastbound & Found, as well as the Mess With Texas day parties that followed.

Needless to say, our anthem at the Sweet Leaf Tea sampling stand at both SXSW events became something along the lines of Dem Franchize Boyz’s ‘Oh I Think Dey Like Me’, as we freely handed out Granny’s awesome swag to sweet tea lovers to promote our new 16 oz. cans.

Thanks to everyone who helped promote Granny’s swagger at our SXSW 2010 Eastbound & Found party!

By, Kathryn Gliniany

Well, SXSW 2010 has come to a close and Austin has returned to its original state. Cars are once again allowed to drive down 6^th Street during normal hours of the day, and the sounds of music blaring from bars and clubs downtown is once again most commonly heard only in the night hours. Here at SLT we are all slowly but surely recovering from the fun.

I had the opportunity to work at our tasting stand during the music part of this years SXSW, and let me tell you, it was a pleasure to meet all of you who stopped by to say hi and grab some samples and swag.

All of you who stopped by our stand on 6^th and San Marcos last weekend had some great questions and comments about our tea. The question I was asked most frequently however was what my favorite flavor was. You must understand that every time someone asks me this it’s difficult for me to answer. I like all of our flavors (and no, they’re not just paying me to say that!). I love ‘em all, and I think that the best way to find your own favorite is to try them all for yourself and discover the wonderment that is our array of offerings. It’s like picking a favorite flavor of ice cream: impossible, because they are all wonderful!

Now if I HAD to absolutely reveal the tea that I find myself drinking most often on a daily basis, it would be the Mint and Honey Green Tea. It’s cool and refreshing and perfect for our hot Texas days. General consensus from you SXSW taste testers tended to agree that Mint and Honey is a hit, but it’s baby sister Citrus Green Tea ran a close second. I was surprised how many SXSW goers hadn’t tried our new citrus flavor yet, and was happy to be the first to offer you a taste and see the expressions of satisfaction spread across your faces as the first citrus wonderfulness hit your taste buds (think Will Ferrell-style, “it’s so good, when it hits your lips, IT’S SO GOOD!” style responses here people!).

If you didn’t get a chance to visit our tasting stand during SXSW you may have missed out on the fun, but you can still try all of our flavors by heading out to your local grocery and convenience stores and snatching up some of our tea. If you are unsure where to find tea near you, check out our store locator feature on our website, or shoot us an email and ask us for more information!

Yowza. What. A. Week.

It’s been 4 days, and I think I’m fully recovered at this point after lots of rest and TLC. I’m starting to think that the human body wasn’t meant for that kind of action, but would I do it again? A resounding ‘hell yes’. This being my third chance to experience SXSW, it never ceases to amaze me how exhausting this particular festival can be. I’d like to consider myself an expert on surviving it, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t catch me by surprise, yet again. Do all you want to prepare yourself for a week of intense music and sensory overload, but rest-assured that an overwhelming feeling will eventually take over. I, too, was overwhelmed. And I’d do it again, and again.

Amidst all the events we sponsored, I did get a few chances to go explore a bit and catch some shows and events. Here are my highlights:

Bike Hugger Mobile Social (3/13)
What a fun ride. Hundreds of cyclists biked around town and ended with a day party at Mellow Johnny’s, complete with freebies, booze, and music. Great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Massive Black / ConceptArt.org / The Art Department Present VISIONS at The Mohawk (3/12)
This was probably the coolest party I’ve ever seen at The Mohawk. The entire place was completely transformed, with giant screens all over the place projecting live art being created by artists on-site using Adobe Photoshop, goth-y models and burlesque dancers as subjects, and intense music. Best way to describe what was going on is through this video I found on YouTube. Good times.

Zilker Kite Fest
Not a SXSW event, but it was rescheduled to this weekend due to inclement weather. Ended up being a great way to spend a beautiful afternoon before heading back out into the SXmasses. Thousands of kites above the Austin skyline (and subsequently in trees). Awesome.

The Gowalla Tiki Room featuring Diplo
Gowalla made some incredible strides this year, being the leader in location-based social networking. Amongst their antics throughout the week (including giving away free OneTacos via the service’s platform and swag from their Gowalla-branded mini Cooper), they also threw a pretty sweet shindig at The Belmont. Despite the cold rain, it was probably my favorite SXSWinteractive event. Great music, great people, good times all around. Diplo was pretty amazing on the ones and twos. Yet another reason to get these shoes hoppin’.

ACVB’s Media Reception
The folks over at the Austin Convention & Visitor’s Bureau know how to throw a party. It’s one of my favorite events because it officially kicks off SXSWmusic. They always have it on the mayor’s balcony of Austin City Hall overlooking Lady Bird Lake in all its glory, and invite a few local musicians to gently wave us into the craziness.

Eastbound & Found presented by ZiegenBock, Dos Lunas Tequila, and Sweet Leaf Tea
I’m not featuring this party simply because we sponsored it but more so because our blogger friends (My Old Kentucky Blog, You Aint No Picasso, Ultra8201, Yours Truly, Chromewaves) did an incredible job procuring the lineup. Some of my faves include:

• Freelance Whales: great sound… looking forward to spending more time with their music.
• Ume: a long-time local favorite, gotta love a rocker chick
• Kid Sister: Damn this show was fun. Nice slice of hip hop.
• Here We Go Magic: Another band I’m looking forward to exploring more.
• Danielson: Reminds me of Polyphonic Spree, quirky as hell. I’ll take it.
• Delorean: So what if we’re dancing our asses off in broad daylight? These guys make it happen.
• White Denim: I can’t get enough of these guys. Sure, their album is impeccable, but their studio work doesn’t do their live sets justice. You just have to experience it.
• GZA: Bill Murray made his way over to our party for this. Enough said.

Converse ‘Get Out Of The Garage’ Party at The Levi’s Fader Fort
The folks at Fader have (yet again) done a great job at creating an amazing party space out of nothing. This party gave me the chance to see a few shows, notably:

• Mayer Hawthorne & The County. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him, but I’m glad he got a little more soul with his newer stuff. Kinda has a big brass feel to it. Well played, gentlemen.
• Passion Pit DJ set: You can’t go wrong. Let’s dance. Okay, go.

The Rumbler Lounge (3/17 – 21)
The folks at Knuckle Rumbler don’t only know how to put together a great showcase, but they really know how to throw FOUR DAYS of showcases. I stopped by for the following sets:

• Glitch Mob (My Old Kentucky Blog’s Bumps & A Pump Party): Seeing these guys do their thing is pretty fascinating. They record samples in the studio of various instruments and sounds, then use touch-screen computers and other gizmos to make music live. It’s hard to explain, but they blow my mind. Every time.
• Dominique Young Unique (Rhapsody.com Party)
  This was unexpected for me, but this little lady from Tampa has got talent. And she’s young. And unique. Keep an eye on her.
• Woodhands (Rhapsody.com Party)
  I have to admit that I’ve been pretty obsessed with their sound ever since I got my hands on it. I missed my chance to see them at Monolith 2009 (poor logistics including thousands of people trying to cram into a 200 person room), so I was glad to finally catch them up close and personal. Two guys, and one plays a keytar. Sold.
• Casxio (Rhapsody.com Party)
  My friends from Austin Eavesdropper told me I shouldn’t miss them, and I’m glad I didn’t. Easily my favorite ‘new’ band of the whole week. They have a fresh sound that’s bound to raise some eyebrows. You can check out Austin Eavesdropper’s coverage here.

Hexdecagon at Whole Foods (3/19)
The Octopus Project was at it again, but this time equipped with a huge tent, speakers surrounding the space in surround-sound fashion, 8 projectors shining choreographed video clips on the ceiling, a mini-arena style stage (set up in the middle of the crowd), and brand new tunes produced just for this event. It was a multi-sensory experience that is pretty tough to describe, but I was in some serious awe. Another toughie to explain — I think they do it best themselves on their site.

Perez Hilton’s One Night in Austin (3/20)
Despite some logistical woes (mostly the porta-potty situation… seriously), they brought some great talent to an exclusive crowd. It was great to see V.V. Brown, Snoop, Alphabeat, Marina & The Diamonds, and Hole. You better believe we was shaking some things. Something tells me all the complimentary Tito’s Vodka might be to blame.

____________

I do want to thank a few folks for making my experience all that it was: Knuckle Rumbler, Brown Distributing (Ziegenbock & Dos Lunas Tequila), PureVolume, Gowalla, the #HTM, GARY! for voluntarily helping sling some tea, WOXY.com, Transmission Entertainment, Giant Noise, my Sweet Leaf Tea’m and interns, and a whole bunch of other folks (this list could go on for days)… so, THANK YOU. THANK. YOU.

There you have it, folks. Until next time…

Greetings!

Are you a music lover? If so, I sure hope you spent some time in Austin TX over the last week because over 1700 bands were playing gigs around town! I am still dragging from all of the fun I had. I really tried to pace myself starting with the SXSWi (interactive) parties all the way to Wednesday night when my SXSW 2010 officially began. This was the beginning of the music portion and every year it has the power to amaze me.

I heard a lot of bands, but only paid attention to 16 of them. Strange number right? Well, I am one girl and you have to carefully pick and choose which band(s) you are going to see because it requires a lot of ground cover to get to all of those shows. (See picture of Wendy with one of our ground-covering chariots.)

Here are a few of the highlights:

1. Metric-(Levis Fader Fort) Chick-led band that was surprisingly raw and good. If you were lucky enough to have been at the Muse show, you might have seen Metric play there too!

2. Woodhands-(PureVolume House) 2 guys (1 guy was a keytar/keyboard/synth/singer for the band) while the other guy plays the drums and sings. These guys were fantastic and it wasn’t just the Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka mixed with Lemon Black w/Sweet Leaf Tea! Anyone who can rock the keytar is a winner in my book!

3. Ozomatli- (Auditorium Shores/Gibson Showroom) These guys are amazing! I can’t imagine having that level of energy night after night while on-tour but Ozomatli is made up of some super cool, fun and passionate performers. I’ve talked about it before, but Twitter IS cool. Why? Because I met Jiro (one of the percussionist for the band) via Twitter and scored back stage for their show! Wendy and I watched the whole show from the very front of the stage which took the show from cool, to super-duper-RAD! These guys even dig Sweet Leaf Tea!

4. Stone Temple Pilots-(Austin Music Hall) OHMYGOD! A HUGE TX-sized THANKS goes to Jeff (Gigi and Luke’s buddy) for letting us enjoy the show. I was blown away by how great they were and happy to see Scott Weiland looking not just healthy, but unbelievably spry and energetic. Ok, ok, he was downright sexy! I didn’t see them back in the day and am glad that I didn’t because I really think that the guys are at their peak! What a show!

5. Octopus Project-(Whole Foods Market Flagship Store) This was my first time to see this band and I am forever a fan. I don’t mean to sound lame, but I had no idea that the theremin could sound like a choir of angels. Yes, I’m serious! They were set up under a tent, with trippy visuals and complete and utter surround sound. I was lucky enough to get to chill in the VIP area, but would walk into the tent and be blown away by the crispness/clarity of the music along with the Pink Floyd-ness of the visuals. You guys blew my mind. Thank you for that!

For the sake of time and your attention-span, I’ll lump the other bands that rocked my world together in one paragraph. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (thanks to the 2 guys that were in town filming a movie and eating at 24 Diner Thursday &  Mario from Ozomatli night after STP for your wrist bands. It made seeing BRMC and other bands possible!) was dark, sexy, and as close to good ole new wave as you can get without listening to the Jesus and Mary Chain mixed with Love and Rockets, served with a side of Joy Division. I always hear great things about the band, Holy F*ck, so I made sure to check them out at the Do 512 Party on Saturday and was blown away! It was the perfect band to kick off my crazy night of electronica. Following HF, was the Crystal Method who I’ve never seen before Saturday night and will make a point to see them again. I want to see a show made of MULTIPLE hours of those 2 extremely talented guys. Make sure to click on the link so you can hear one of the songs played at La Zona Rosa. These guys absolutely ripped it up throughout their whole set. Want more? YES PLEASE! I left LZR to bike over to The Galaxy Club for The Black Angels but they were at capacity and since they are an Austin band, I jumped back on my bike and headed back to La Zona Rosa for Pretty Lights. Boy am I glad that I did it! If I could have handled one more day of partying, I would have gone to the show they put on Sunday night too. That’s how good they were and if you are wondering whether or not they lived up to their name, well they did! Very, very, pretty lights indeed! Music sounds like Sound Tribe Sector 9 but with just 2 guys making all of the noise. I was sad when the show ended, as I knew that was it. SXSW 2010 was officially over for @SweetLeafApril.

What was the coolest show you saw?

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