I mentioned earlier that I had a hard time seeing Jose Gonzalez, I missed three of his four shows at SXSW, and even his last show was moved to a new venue. What I hadn’t mentioned is once I finally got to his last show, ready to be wrapped up in the quiet sounds of his guitar, this is what happened…

I was standing on the second story balcony overlooking the stage, and across the room there’s a clanging sound. We turn and a group of people are pulling a girl back from the railing and laying her down on the floor. My first thought? She was drunk, she dropped her drink over the edge and they were laying her down so she could throw up or something (it’s SXSW, it happens! Still, *silently judging her*). Then the guy that laid her down, pops his head up over the railing. His eyes dart to the people below, then up to the ceiling, and finally to where I’m standing. What the heck? A buzz starts going through the crowd. She’s hurt. Something fell on her. Holy fuck, the ceiling fan above my head is spinning all wonky because there’s a BLADE MISSING. It flew across the room and HIT HER IN THE HEAD. It then proceeded to bounce off the stage lights and into the crowd below, but that’s besides the point, because in case you missed it, it first flew across the room and hit the girl IN THE HEAD.

People were beginning to back away from the fan, but Jose Gonzalez was about to go on stage. I’d waited 30 minutes in a hot, humid club and though there was the tiniest chance of decapitation, I had a prime location. Then a Swedish guy next to me decided to climb on his friend’s shoulders to pull the last blade off “so it doesn’t hurt anyone else,” and that’s when I had to pull the ‘adult card.’ Nevermind that it’s an industrial fan and he could lose some fingers, he’s a few feet from a 2nd story balcony and he’s probably been drinking since Tuesday. I went bar to asked them to shut off the fans. They were a step ahead of me, and reaching for the switch when I got there. At least they’ve got that going for them when the girl decides to sue.

In the end, I got my spot back, I saw Jose Gonzalez and then got the heck out of there. I walked out just as the paramedics were walking in… an hour later.