Waking up this afternoon in Texas and peering out of the window, I immediately knew something was up.

In the night, a man with a pipe and a gaudy hat had arrived in town and lead away all the geeks to a secret cave in San Francisco. And if that wasn’t bad enough, at exactly the same time, an almost identical piper, but this time wearing skinny jeans and playing a harmonica, had lead in a huge procession of long-haired musicians with guitar cases and quirky looking hot girls who want to sleep with them.

Austin today is a town transformed. Everything is now all about the music (man). Even the Twitter feed has turned entirely from Scoble sightings and Google party flash mobs into Moby sightings (the musical Scoble) and secret gigs. Frankly – I’m not sure I can be arsed. I’m all South-Byed out and it’s only the fact that there’s still a smattering of Brit folks here with Interactive/Film hangovers that keeps things interesting.

Don’t get me wrong – I love music as much as the next Barenaked Ladies fan – it’s just that I miss knowing that almost everyone you run into is actually doing something interesting full time rather than just being a Starbucks barista with a guitar and a copy of Garage Band.

To hell with it – viva la difference, I suppose. The gang’s still here and we’re off to see some gigs and drink some beers. Just time, though to wrap up the last few days of SX interactive…

A definite highlight was the Onion party – and not in a good way. I actually wondered whether maybe it was a piece of performance art; an actual Onion story being played out…

Area man disappointed to learn that VVIP room was just a normal room with fewer, richer douchebags.

Or

Party organisers set up VVVIP room in response to arrival of actual famous person.

Still – at least I got to meet some of the Onion folk, the 42 things guy (check! 41 to go) and Eugene Mirman who I was sad to discover isn’t an actual merman. I was also given a white ‘Obama 08′ wristband (in response, the ‘Clinton 08′ wristbands are male) by a campaign worker. I’m wearing it with pride of course but will hopefully remember to take off when I head to other southern states.

Last night’s Digg party at Pure Volume closed all things interactive with a bang (a click?). I spotted Moby, Mark Cuban, Kevin Rose (I think) and all kinds of other folk. My attempts to convince a Canadian that it’s never too late to be a Suicide Girl had mixed results. I also snuck in to the VIP area while the bouncer was distracted throwing an actual important person out. Like at the Onion party, I found myself basically locked behind a fence with exactly the same free drinks as in the main bar, but with none of my friends and more random faces. Guantanamo Bay with Guitar Hero. Photos on Flickr, nach.

Right – time to head out. I’m ten types of exhausted so tonight will probably be a quiet one. But then again, that’s what I said last night – and at least tonight my dinner came from Whole Foods and not from Satan’s own barbeque and grill.

Party. On.