Not the most productive South by Southwest Film Festival for local filmmakers: The best story coming in and going out of Austin remains that of 15-year-old R.L. Turner sophomore John Gordon III, whose five-minute movie To the Ends of the Earth played the fest in the Texas High School Shorts competition. In the movie, Gordon's father and little brother play, well, father and son who get separated at the airport; the trailer's available here.
Did run into Fort Worth's Melissa Kirkendall, who's wrapping her first film in hopes of having a rough cut ready by late spring. It's a terrific subject too: Fort Worth's garage bands of the 1960s, though, likely, a few Dallas ones will tune up too. Among those Kirkendall's interviewed for the doc, now titled Teen a Go Go: Butthole Surfer King Coffey, Bloodrock-er John Nitzinger, deejay Ron Chapman and, yup, Bobbie Wygant.
Alas, film wraps today as music moves in -- always evident when the button-downs turn to black tees. Nice transition last night though: In the lobby of the Four Seasons, ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons briefly sat in on a cover band's "Come Together," while Billy Bob Thornton snapped pics with fans and R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe drank what appeared to be champagne. --Robert Wilonsky
